[IRCA] Cook Island DXpedition-- Australia/ NZ Loggings & MP3's (Part Three)

[Gary DeBock <d1028gary@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

     As reported previously, the salt water-enhanced propagation from Aitutaki island to New Zealand was outstanding every evening after local sunset, resulting in over 100 Kiwi MW-DX recordings made during the Cook Islands trip. Australian signals ruled at sunrise, however, as a collection of Oz talk-format pest stations on 567, 594, 693, 918 and 1566 did their best to make it a challenge to track down exotic South and Southeast Asian DX on their frequencies.

     All of the following stations were received with the hand-held 7.5" loopstick C.Crane SSB Ultralight radio alone, which was more than sensitive enough to track down scores of Kiwi and Oz stations every evening on the lagoon beach next to our motel. The master plan during the trip was to check all the MW frequencies in the evening after sunset, splitting up the frequencies to cover in pre-planned DXing sessions every evening. That worked fairly well until my wife discovered some special Polynesian dinner offers on the last two days, causing some of the higher frequencies to be foregone in favor of South Pacific luaus and Cook Maori dancing entertainment. As I watched the Maori fire dancing, it seemed like my master plan to cover the band was going up in smoke.     


873  UnID-DU   Three DU English stations mixing at 0826 on 4-10, all receiving a salt water enhancement boost to the point where they succeed in creating mass confusion. Probably a mix of Newstalk ZB, TAB Trackside and an Oz station  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/aw9dn1m2bw39sbwflb4dagenutr95ksi

882  Star   Auckland, NZ, 10 kW   S9 signal all alone and // 909 with female speech at 0825 on 4-10  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/n2y76kxspboqnm5bcs2otv3xc3q8i45p

891  4TAB   Townsville, Australia, 5 kW   Pounding in at a winning level at 0821 on 4-10, featuring a bizarre "When You're After Your Mate" ad at 28 seconds, complete with a gambling addiction hotline number. Meanwhile 891-Wellington was left in the dust, barely showing up at the end of the race  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/2t7mn5m32326z3drhyta6dtwnx4y3t5z

891  Magic   Wellington, NZ, 5 kW   The anemic music station was under 4TAB (as usual) in this recording at 0822 on 4-10, the Kiwi oldies station was losing the horse race with 4TAB every evening  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/24833qhi3ta0rp284700h85d6tgtm9sr

900  Coast   Whangarei, NZ, 2.5 kW   Oldies format dominating over Star for most of this recording at 0819 on 4-10  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/nj1ytafh2dj2fervb0itouzrppdefrx8

900  Star   Dunedin, NZ, 10 kW   Dominating over Coast at the end of this recording at 0820 on 4-10 with female speech // 909 (includes a brief 909 segment)  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/nj1ytafh2dj2fervb0itouzrppdefrx8

909  Star   Hawkes Bay, NZ, 5 kW   Awesome S9 signal with female Kiwi speech at 0818 on 4-10; this was the preferred Star frequency for parallel checks every evening  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/nrs8b2xto0tkzxrdx8icqtae9qo13335

The Christian format station was also a powerful presence every sunrise session, such as at 1618 on 4-11  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/cgde7y1n3p9w2ll1xdl6tjge5fd4jooi

918  RNZ   Timaru/ New Plymouth, NZ, 2.5/ 2 kW   Fair level with male speech // 567 at 0812 on 4-10  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/78f0cf7mjhy66cjb5uryhtw0n2hzsym0

918  UniD-Australian   "Midnight, with Merv Starr" program intro at 1702 on 4-12 (30 seconds into the following recording). Strangely, the two eastern Oz station websites indicate that both should be music-oriented   https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/dlhcf700ou82hf7unqwlbn026m7bci52

Note: The 918 kHz frequency was one of the more interesting in this group. It received a lot of attention because of Cambodia on the frequency, which finally broke through with its National Anthem on April 12th. One single MP3 contained the Cambodian anthem, Shandong in China, bizarre "Cuckoo Clock" time pips at the 1700 UTC and a mix of two DU English stations after that-- one of which was the "Midnight, with Merv Starr" program on an Oz talk station, which remains unidentified. The other DU English signal on the frequency was the RNZ duo from Timaru and New Plymouth, which routinely showed up in the evening sessions. After hearing Nick's opinion about the "Cuckoo Clock" time pips at 1700 UTC (at 1:41 in Chuck's reworked MP3, posted at   https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/qams92h5ktn7ki93u3qlvbzvyl3y8rru ) I agree with Nick that they are most likely the Shandong 5+1 time pips alternating with the 5+1 time pips from RNZ, and not echoes from the Shandong multi-transmitter system, as originally thought. 

927  4CC   Gladstone, Australia, 5 kW   Presumed the one with a rock format dominating over Newstalk ZB at the earlier part of this recording at 0807 on 4-10  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/8zjzilbrxolzk4azgz1xqoblx8neu7pd

927  Newstalk ZB   Palmerston N., NZ, 2 kW   Male speech // 1035 dominating over a presumed 4CC at the end of this recording at 0808 on 4-10  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/8zjzilbrxolzk4azgz1xqoblx8neu7pd

936  Chinese Voice   Auckland, NZ, 1 kW   One of the major surprises of the DXpedition, with awesome signals every evening. This TOH recording at 0800 on 4-10 features a Chinese ID, station promos and website information  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/jp8cmpqmmxbjm6bruj601g5y0i4j66f5

936  UnID-Australian   Mixing with Chinese Voice at 0731 on 4-9 with DU English, most likely 4PB in Brisbane  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/0o7oo6i4nd6wunsncdsxs516r3wkyiji

945  Newstalk ZB   Gisborne, NZ, 2 kW   Good signal // 1035 with sports news at 0758 on 4-10  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/7dl3volkdjwq4u9wa8eygb166a115lah

954  UnID-DU   A single station all alone with news at 0756 on 4-10, but just not enough content to identify  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/crippbcbus3gw6g27yc767f4nqf3md7m

963  Star   Christchurch, NZ, 10 kW   Strong signal // 909 with ID at the 10 second point, followed by Christian music  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/ltk43q3f8gkj60zwyvbwlfe27zk0ercb

972  UnID   For some reason this frequency was overlooked in the evening, but an apparent DU English co-channel was mixing with HLCA's Korean at 1632 on 4-12 with a talk format-- most likely Rhema, in Wellington  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/rsjxq9ara77rrvdeg4f1dnn5fh9jgs1b

981  RNZ   Kaikohe, NZ, 2 kW   Female-voiced news // 567 at good level at 0723 on 4-10  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/0lx9tfev0eq7qe9vj054mu60kw1oxthq

990  TAB Trackside   Nelson, NZ, 1 kW   In a fairly good horse race with Fiji Gold at the start of this recording at 0712 on 4-10, only to fold to Melissa Etheridge in the clutch  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/devsen4lrp2pul0m92m0r638yb6yj79i

1008  4TAB   Brisbane, Australia, 10 kW   Dominating over Newstalk ZB with live horse racing at 0752 on 4-10  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/oqks7pabb5rjj96eb04c49n5iseb16xv

1008  Newstalk ZB   Tauranga, NZ, 10 kW   Dominating over 4TAB with male-voiced news // 1035 at 0753 on 4-10  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/c1qk2124yuu2hhf0cwaqjjg3ev3w6q31

1017  Radio Sport   Christchurch, NZ, 2.5 kW   The major co-channel of A3Z in Tonga, it could usually be isolated simply by nulling out Tonga. This was the case at 0723 on 4-10, with sports-related news from the Kiwi station in the null of S9 Tonga   https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/4yaczeqnvcdqyv6pyuog7707lrh2uifx

1026  Newstalk ZB   Kaitaia, NZ, 2 kW   Pretty good signal from the 2 kW station with male conversation // 1035 at 0738 on 4-10  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/6tjlvks46ygt3q8zo92768d2vcrtra1y

1035  Newstalk ZB   Wellington, NZ, 20 kW   Usually very strong on the frequency each evening, but a little off at 0737 on 4-10 with male conversation about gender-changed athletes  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/zbrxgjg5cyvi1xow8nedzv9aoie2x7cq

1044  Newstalk ZB   Dunedin, NZ, 10 kW   Male conversation // 1035 about gender-changed athletes at 0739 on 4-10  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/0arbh5wji31myv9vn46r29d07qjgbi8a

1053  Newstalk ZB   New Plymouth, NZ, 2 kW   Great signal for the power level with (once again) male conversation // 1035 about gender-changed athletes at 0740 on 4-10. Newstalk ZB has this part of the band almost monopolized  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/15b7t03n2w5y03tfoqoyk0u2xrms6pzz

1062  Radio Sport   Wanganui, NZ, 1 kW   Sports play-by-play with good signal for the power level at 0742 on 4-10  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/9h4ib0fg3in4xnnfqw6ue00zqi3o6lbk

1071  TAB Trackside   Ashburton, NZ, 1 kW   Believed to be the Kiwi-accented station at the end of the recording at 1700 on 4-13 under the dominant UnID Australian (thanks to Bryan Clark for accent assistance)  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/4zu1wp0eykwxyy3598w45dtpjirs5nif

1071  UnID Australian   Mention of "Melbourne" at the 18 second point, but no definite ID clues at 1700 on 4-13  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/4zu1wp0eykwxyy3598w45dtpjirs5nif

1080  Newstalk ZB   Auckland, NZ, 10 kW   Powerful signal at 0745 on 4-10 with sports-related news over very weak co-channel (KWAI in Hawaii?)  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/f8lqy6xhvv56fdsyauyebt1t28wlxcsp

1089  Radio Sport   Palmerston N., NZ, 2.5 kW   Sports play-by-play // 1062 at 0746 on 4-10  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/chasv9jgq78avz0gsgsl2760p3b0l707

1098  Newstalk ZB   Christchurch, NZ, 5 kW   The usual co-channel of V7AB in the Marshall Islands, it could usually be isolated by nulling V7AB, as in this strong recording // 1035 (with the gender-changed athlete discussion) at 0749 on 4-10  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/cidqz29yfbvsfqe3xn2e3v5e11tppudt

1107  Radio Live   Tauranga, NZ, 1 kW   Talk-format station all alone at 0750 on 4-10 with good signal for the power level  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/ixt6fum9c0eejx979eps4i1h7pwmzg4k

1116  UnID-DU   A mix of a strong UnID music station (RNZ?) and a probable 4BC from Brisbane at 0752 on 4-10  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/a5pe6fmk17tnr90zlh4irjx2jf36xld9

1125  Radio Sport   Hawkes Bay, NZ, 1 kW   Great signal for the low power with local ads and promo for shared sports program on sister network Newstalk ZB at 0753 on 4-10  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/wp65skhg3czwx2sk1i1yzu8k4j5wzllb

1143  RNZ   Hamilton, NZ, 2.5 kW   Great signal with music and speech // 567 at 0754 on 4-10  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/b2f1mcjbzek1s2147rm2scj1m25nbqeo

1152  Newstalk ZB  Timaru, NZ, 2 kW   Good signal all alone with male conversation // 1035 at 0756 on 4-10 regarding (once again) gender-changed athletes  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/hpf4368fgakui2ivax59ms8pfpnpibww

1161  Radio Te Upoko o te Ika, Wellington, NZ, 5 kW   Good signal // 603 with Maori language speech at 0750 on 4-10; a parallel segment on 603 is included at the end of the recording. On some evenings this station would be wiped out by 1160-KSL in Salt Lake City https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/glyd7t60c5ihz1v9hrydblkslkd36524


(TO BE CONTINUED) 

  

     

 
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