[IRCA] Top 10 "Flamethrower" TP's in Kona, Hawaii

[Gary DeBock <d1028gary@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

West coast DXers fed up with cold weather and even colder DXing conditions do have one ultimate solution for both problems-- take a quick flight to Hawaii. In Hawaii during the winter the main challenge isn't tracking down TP-DX... it's sorting out the wild TP signal snarls that occur when sunset sweeps over Asia.


During a five day trip to Kona (Big Island) last month over 100 TP-DX recordings were made, including the 10 awesome TP signals linked below. Most of them are probably familiar to TP-DXers here, but one of them apparently hasn't been received on the west coast for quite a few years (621-North Korea). These signals were all received at the ocean beach level at the Royal Kona Resort on the Big Island of Hawaii from December 17-20 using a 7.5 inch (19cm) loopstick C.Crane Skywave SSB Ultralight and a 5 inch (13cm) diameter "Frequent Flyer" FSL antenna (specifically designed to easily pass through airports). The antenna provides inductive coupling gain roughly similar to that of a 4 foot (1.2 meter) air core box loop, and a photo of it (and the modified Ultralight portable) is posted at  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/rhpgxnnqrzkxt5xq5ofc8arqwq0m4cmd


1)  621  Pyongyang BS (VOK Japanese service)   Pyongyang, N. Korea (500 kW)   This bizarre transmitter has an obvious buzzing sound, but was strong enough to snarl badly with 621-Tuvalu on most nights. The Japanese service plays the usual North Korean music, with robotic Japanese announcers praising Kim Jong Un and his ancestors. This typical clip was recorded at 0850 on 12-20, temporarily sending Tuvalu down into the noise

https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/rhfksf381csgtohluxt3e97tjf79fshm


2)  621  Radio Tuvalu   Funafuti, Tuvalu  (5 kW)   One of the exotic Pacific island stations that's very easy to receive in Hawaii, this station had a rough time with Pyongyang BS (above) and 621-China on most evenings after 0730 UTC. This strong signal features the usual female announcer providing local employment offers at 0750 on 12-18  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/chbg6d1b3xfskb7axw7vhvwae07o0y6c


3)  666  JOBK   Osaka, Japan  (100 kW)   No big surprise here, although the 594 NHK1 parallel was hammered by Hawaii splatter. Japanese male conversation was at a local-like level at 0918 on 12-20 https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/5sm6pogm45wuukbggvhb8q9i8klpyqh5


4)  747  JOIB  Sapporo, Japan  (500 kW)   Overall the strongest Japanese station in Kona, with awesome signals and never any co-channels. The only Japanese station that ever came close in strength was 1134-JOQR, although that had some KBS competition at times. This blowtorch signal was at 0913 on 12-19

https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/5v5byw2vzvw7azxhzrgsz6j591qwtxyv


5)  774  JOUB   Akita, Japan  (500 kW)   The NHK2 flagship station sounded potent at 0857 on 12-18, but never quite up to its 747 parallel's strength (which is the opposite of the usual west coast situation)

https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/p9aiqrhx4ji22gwc7nehalybl46cetj0


6)  819  KCBS   Pyongyang, N. Korea  (500 kW)   Overwhelming signals were the order of the day every evening from this bizarre flagship of the KCBS network. This girl group song from the modern Moranbong Band was loud enough to wake up the dead at 1035 (just past local midnight) on 12-19 (thanks to Chris Kadlec for info)

https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/gj2deffl7mjuzqr5tocsro100sfhqll9


7)  846  Kiribati   Christmas Island, Kiribati  (10 kW)   This Pacific island station had the strongest signal of any such transmitter-- as long as the equipment didn't go on the blink. Multiple signal dropouts were observed, and variable programming delays from the 1440 source were recorded. When it was on the air awesome signals were common, however, such as at 0735 on 12-18  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/zbo418obgvvnj4kvlchxgryze60e2q0p


8)  981  CNR1   Changchun, China  (200 kW)   This was another overwhelming Asian signal after 0800 on most evenings, and was far and away the strongest Chinese station. This thunderous CNR1 theme music was received at 0900 on 12-18  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/0390gk266y2v675chc196nejoe6rqxnw


9)  1098  V7AB   Majuro, Marshall Islands  (25 kW)   Another Pacific island blowtorch showing up every evening around local Kona sunset, this was one of the very few island stations impervious to the Asian signal onslaught. This typical island music was received at 0815 on 12-18   https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/ogc8kz73he7cwtln5gw6ljammluub5p0


10)  1134  JOQR   Tokyo, Japan  (100 kW)   The only commercial Japanese station to make this list, its fast-paced programming usually drowned out the KBS co-channel, as at 0945 on 12-20. Stronger than most NHK big guns!

https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/7wbk5ocbzaa5phxz9bnpr6bal4hqlzg7


Honorable Mention:  For technical reasons these two stations missed out on the Top 10. 909-Chinese was UnID (one of many such Chinese stations), and because of some Christmas music may possibly have been the 10 kW Taiwan station. Strong children's chanting in apparent Mandarin was heard at 0956 on 12-18  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/0siovz0ojkty9ocy0gzl40bnfrp7qxpo

1593-CNR1 would have made the list except it could never quite shake off its pesky NHK2 co-channel   https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/eybu72zjipo1zb5gz6qh461cfomjly5s    
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