[IRCA] Kona, Hawaii DXpedition-- More Exotic DU Recordings

[d1028gary@xxxxxxxxxxx]

>From April 9-12 a Mini-DXpedition was conducted on a sixth floor oceanfront room at the Royal Kona Resort Motel in Kona, Hawaii. A newly-designed 5 inch "Frequent Flyer" FSL antenna (specifically constructed to be "airport friendly") was used to boost DX station gain on a 7.5" loopstick C.Crane "Skywave" Ultralight radio. This combination was effective enough to track down many exotic Pacific Island stations (540, 621, 1440, etc.) at S9 levels during transmitter-site sunset skip propagation into Kona. 

Knowing very well that all of these Pacific island stations are extremely tough catches in North America (even on the west coast), a deliberate effort was made to record their formats, announcers, sign off routines and times. Linked below are some of these exotic Pacific island MP3's-- which hopefully will be useful to those DXers (like me) who have never heard any of these stations at home. 

540 2AP Apia, Western Samoa This station features a lot of Samoan music with both male and female announcers, and dominates the frequency in Kona at night as long as it transmits. Unfortunately it doesn't follow the listed PAL sign off time of 1000, but runs past this time routinely, making it tough to track down an exact sign off time. My guess is that it signs off sometime between 1030 and 1100. The following MP3 is of S9+ level Samoan Christian worship music at 0931 on 4-9. This overwhelming signal was one of the most awesome recorded during the entire DXpedition 
https://app.box.com/s/8ejvx8s7udh5ibtqymtxs5ew65mquqcl 
Energetic Samoan music at 0956 on 4-12. This is typical of the station's music format 
https://app.box.com/s/tbo84s7gb2jci6gfxkawo7rsqpmpkyp3 
More typical Samoan choral music at 0835 on 4-11 -- a staple of programming in the station's format 
https://app.box.com/s/z8ecbvx14fyqx0tpjtw2ahy2r7omhst4 
The usual male announcer in Samoan at 0845 on 4-11 
https://app.box.com/s/zirqxu76dj7bywxyk1jynoushnw0zyv6 
The usual female announcer in Samoan at 0856 on 4-11 
https://app.box.com/s/6rkd8ckcd1005fyc5itupxowaf6jqhex 

612 Radio Tuvalu Funafuti, Tuvalu A very tough station to track down on the mainland, but certainly a "piece of cake" in Kona. Routinely has sign off at 1003 UTC, preceded by island choral music and the national anthem (sung by the same choral group). Around 0950 a female announcer begins the routine by giving a monolog news broadcast about 5 minutes long, typically followed by an island music song right before the fixed 5-minute sign off routine. The latter two features are included in the following 8 minute recording (at near S9 strength) made at 0955 on April 10 
https://app.box.com/s/3z2ql91i5afhhi6kmjsnvos4p9q2j56y 
The usual female announcer with her 5 minute news broadcast at near S9 strength at 0955 prior to the sign off routine on April 11. The lady giving the correct pronunciation for "Tuvalu" is at the 11 second point https://app.box.com/s/knpjrxdb40p7hfe9xx7djlwyz3fzf8j3 
Around five minutes of typical Island choral music at good-level strength at 0921 on 4-9 
https://app.box.com/s/0vouj030pvoxy96o7xtvg45zq0uxed1n 

1440 Radio Kiribati Bairiki, Kiribati Because of its domestic frequency this obscure station is another of the toughest Pacific island stations (and countries) to receive on the Mainland, but some very helpful identity clues were discovered in Kona (where the station is a breeze to hear). The station routinely signs off at 0936 UTC each evening, with a very loud 1000 Hz audio tone right before it cuts power. The sign off routine includes station ID's in both the local language and English around 0932 prior to the choral music national anthem, although because of her heavy accent the fact that the female announcer is talking in English might well go unnoticed. The full sign off routine is included in the following MP3, preceded by an Island music number (during which a 1400 Spanish pest attempts a run on the frequency, only to be immediately drowned out) https://app.box.com/s/s9sgwesnmi3ljjf1fkuhlsb08st7ty5y 
The station uses a distinctive 4-bong time signal on the half hour, as in this recording made at 0929 UTC at the 35 second point (after some American music) 
https://app.box.com/s/ks6n49yjreqdykdu2am76jl7qqj9mvyu 
Prior to the sign off routine this station also uses its female announcer to give a final news update (like 621-Tuvalu). This recording is of such a news update at 0925 on 4-11, with several mentions made of the American president 
https://app.box.com/s/a1zx6jelrvhguyzjfy6b5dgwlfjfceij 

Hopefully these clues will enable a few DXers (maybe even me) to track down these exotic stations at home. 

73 and Good DX, 
Gary DeBock (DXing in Kona, Hawaii) 
7.5" loopstick C.Crane Skywave Ultralight + 
5 inch "Frequent Flyer" FSL antenna (a combo photo, including a sleep-deprived DXer, is posted at https://app.box.com/s/2tjufcycjbzzm4gr01now9rsc24kiwrw 



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