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

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Gary,

Thanks for the great recordings and photo. I'm looking forward to what Hawaiian DX has to offer, especially equipped with a Frequent Flyer FSL, thanks to you!

Aloha!

Craig Barnes
Wheat Ridge, CO (until tomorrow!)
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On Tue, 4/18/17,  <d1028gary@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

 Subject: [IRCA] Kona, Hawaii DXpedition-- More Exotic DU Recordings
 To: "America, Mailing" <irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
 Date: Tuesday, April 18, 2017, 3:34 AM
 
 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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