[IRCA] Fabulous TP Morning on Orcas Island!

["John H. Bryant" <bjohnorcas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

WOW!!!!

With dawn approaching 1445 here, I happened to be up at 1250 and 
decided to give things a try.  As usual in late October, the Japanese 
were in at pretty darn good levels, by themselves (no co-chan CCs), 
but what was unusual was the presence of a number of Korean stations, 
some at startling levels. My first clue was when I tuned to 558, 
which is usually at mumble-level or just above and which is ALWAYS 
JOCR, Kobe.  Well, the thing was coming in at a good S-9 and I kept 
trying to hear this guy talk in Japanese.  My comprehension of JJ is 
long gone, but my vocabulary is still decent.... My brain kept 
hunting for JJ words and they just weren't there.  After about a 
minute, it dawned on me that I was hearing Korean, better than I've 
ever heard it! Presumed HLQH, KBS 2.

The rest of the early run went fairly predictable, with lots of the 
usual JJs, a few CCs and more than usual KKs.... eminently DXable at 
"oh-dark:30"  I did note a huge mess on 819, even worse than usual. I 
think that it contained CNR1 beneath the terribly scrambled carrier 
and sort of audio from KCBS, Pyongyang, with maybe a South Korean 
thrown in. 864 had pres. HLKR, KBS1 instead of the OC that I've been 
noting recently and 1098 was also the KBS station and 1386 had the 
low power synchros from NHK2 on them at 1315, for the first time in 
several weeks. The star of the early show, though was right at 1300, 
I tuned by 990 and noted Chinese where Winnepeg or a small Portland 
station ought to be... Boom, there was TOH with a standard CNR ID and 
Fanfare... I did not catch whether it was CNR1 or 2, tho' I think 
that both run the fanfare.  The only CNR listed on 990 is a CNR2 in 
Hailar, Nei Menggu.
It was soon covered my the NAm regionals and gone.  I may send a 
tentative report to Beijing, all the same... It would be a tremendous 
catch from here.

The band did not fade out until well past 1500, more than 20 minutes 
after dawn and the max dawn period saw the expected arival of the 
mass of the Chinese, as the JJs faded in strength. Heard most of the 
usual things, with 936, 945 and 963 all at solid 9s.  The more 
interesting included once again hearing a regular CC giving the 
Govorit Pekin Russian Service fits.  Most probably this is a 50 kW 
Liaoning PBS in Darien, western Manchuria.... awfully close to the 
probable location of the Govorit Pekin transmitters, IMHO.  Anyway, 
that signal continues to intrigue.

The most interesting thing for me in the later running was 
837.  I've  yet to get a really good TOH recording to ask the DeBock 
translating service to decode.  Well, at 1455, 837 was strong and 
alone, so I recorded it.  Wouldn't you know, at 1500, there were two 
sets of CNR time pips, staggered by about 7 seconds! The first was 
mercifully weak and I'm pretty sure that I got a good ID on the 
stronger station.... followed by 5 minutes of News with Beijing and 
Taiwan getting multiple mentions. Here's hoping that this will sort 
out whether we are hearing that relatively new station broadcasting 
to Taiwan or the former occupant in Harbin, Manchuria (or 
both!)  There is a CNR1 on that channel.... I'm beginning to think 
that not all of the CNR networks have their pips properly 
timed.  That would be a real hoot!

Well, it was a wonderful morning.... I even discovered that the 
Slider E100s purported ability to act as a preselector between 
outside antennas and the E100 really works.  With my outside antenna 
directly connected to the stock ferrite bar (non-sliding) in my other 
E100, the set was wonderful at Grayland but unusable in the RF 
cesspit of urban Vancouver which I overlook here.  Using the newer 
Slider equipped E100, I can Ultralight DX from here for the first 
time... Got 13 TPs, including 1575, the 837 and 1377 Chinese and a 
bunch of JJs.

I'm glad that I did not take up glf instead :>)


John B.
Orcas Island, WA, USA
Rcvrs: WiNRADiO 313e, Eton e1, Slider E100
Antennas: Wellbrook Phased Array NW
Two 70' x 100' Conti Super Loops, West and Northwest  
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