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[IRCA] Pacific MW DX for 18Nov09
Pacific DX report for 18 November, 2009: 200 nm south of Tonga
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As I expected, we began hearing more North American and Hawaiian
stations as we cruised northward. The bonus was that the weather became
much more comfortable sitting outside in the evening with a spectacular
sunset tonight. Tonga and Samoa, of course, began to be quite regular,
although I did note that 2AP Samoa on 540 does not put out that
particularly well compared to Radio Tonga on 1017 which alone dominates
the frequency and has excellent modulation. 540 has a lot off
competition from NZ’s Rhema which at times overpowers Samoa. As always,
I’d appreciate comments on my unids! Overall, I haven’t found this night
and the next all that productive compared to my first night. I’m
surprised as well on how poorly Australia has been heard compared to New
Zealand. I’m also pleasantly surprised on how well Alaska has been
heard! One disappointment is the total absence of Radio Cook Islands on
630. This frequency is owned by New Zealand, it seems. Darn! No
particular order below as I jumped around a fair bit. Sorry about that!
540: Reminiscent of KICY, Nome with local Christian hymns in Samoan. At
06:54. No TOH ID, just one hymn into another at good level. SBC Radio
One, Apia. Listened again later, and noticed English news at 08:09
tune-in until 08:10, and then into islands music. This small segment
seems regular, so worth noting for Dxers. The following night, the
English segment was between 08:08:30 and 08:13:30 with a fairly heavy
Samoan accent. I believe they’re relaying another local English speaking
network?
Another interesting observation is that they were playing Christmas
carols at 08:40 with Hark the Herald Angels Sing! My first of the season
Christmas carols! This continued for quite a while (happened to also
note Christmas carols on Tonga too!). At 09:37, NZ’s Rhema totally
dominated Samoa.
558: Checking for Radio Fiji 1 and noted 558 to be fairly poor. Wonder
whether they beam more to the south, as this was a good frequency
yesterday. Did not hear anything on 639. 684 was good. 927 was poor
under a DU station, while 1152 was fair/good. At same time, I also
checked for Radio Fiji 2 and 1467 was in at fair to good level, and
probably // to 810 weakly heard under cochannel NZ. No doubt Radio Fiji
2 is a tough target compared to Radio Fiji 1 !!
580: KMJ, Fresno CA. Fair level at 07:05, with “Live from the city of
angels, this is Coast to Coast”. Heard regularly. Later in the evening,
very good level with Coast to Coast AM ID at 08:58 followed by “Newstalk
KMJ”. Puts out very well!
590: KSSK ID (Honolulu) at 07:18 with pop music at fair to good level.
Hawaiians starting to appear now.
630: Nope, not RCI but Radio New Zealand National continues to dominate
with BBCWS-like programming and many // frequencies. Same true for the
19^th too. Darn!
640: KFI Fair reception with talk about airborne viruses and biowarfare.
Coast to Coast AM ID at 07:30 and into local traffic and weather at
07:33 with “KFI traffic” and phone number as ?news640640?.
650: 2 cochannels heard, with KENI, Anchorage dominating at 07:34. They
mentioned “plenty cold” with temperatures in south and central Alaska
around 11 below. Another weaker cochannel as well.
666: RFO New Caledonia at very good level around 08:30.
680: weak talk. Later heard ESPN Radio ID at 09:21 at fair to good
level. This is probably KNBR San Francisco.
690: KNHR, Honolulu at very good level at 09:04 with news. Cochannel at
times with deep fades, but heard local ID at 09:58.
710: KIRO, Seattle with ad for 1-800-FLOWERS and something about
ultimate Seahawks coverage. Fair reception at best. Later, “Sports
Radio” heard at 09:25 or so. Still KIRO, or is this KSPN, LA?
738: Finally fair to good reception from RFO Tahiti. 07:14 with FF talk.
Not heard well or at all further south!
760: presumably KGU, Honolulu with ad for “Hope, the anchor of the
soul”, and website as Hopefortheheart.org. Good level at 09:27.
770: possibly KCHU Valdez, AK with an interview at fair strength at
06:51 (7:51 pm local, so quite early still).
780: KNOM, Nome: Native chanting at 07:48 at good level. Rapid ID that I
couldn’t quite catch at 08:00, and into ABC news. Local weather
followed: “Tonight 10 to 20 below, to 30 below F. in Fairbanks, Yukon
Valley 15 to 30 below”. Brrrr, especially as I’m enjoying 75 degree late
evening temperatures!
801: KTWG Guam at fair to good level with American accented preacher at
08:30.
830, 1050, 1260: all at poor to fair level only. Later, 830 was at good
level with talk about N. Korea. Unid.
945: Hoping for Gizo, Solomon Islands but no luck either tonight or the
following night. Still dominated by DU.
1017: Radio Tonga. Listened later in the evening. English news noted
from 10:20 to 10:24. The following day also noted English from 08:15 to
08:27 with “Radio Tonga local news” opening this segment. Then after
08:27 came weather information until 08:28:30, finishing with “The call
of the friendly islands”, and back into Tongan. I then checked for their
sign-off which occurred at 11:04 following Tongan announcements (I was
half asleep at this point as it was after midnight local), followed a
few seconds later by the transmitter cutting off as well. ****PAL
mentions a sign-on of 19:00. Not true. I checked the following morning,
and they were already on when checked at 18:21. Wonder whether they
sign-on at 18:00? Unfortunately slept in on the 19^th until 18:15
(already on then …07:15 am local).
1070: KNX Los Angeles, CA. Excellent reception at 09:06 with ID. Earlier
had CBS news feed, which happened to be // to the 580 I was listening
to. Then went into Coast to Coast program (which was also // on 560 at
poor to fair level).
1090: Fair level at 09:31 with a call-in program giving a number as
888-648-xxxx.
1100, 1120, 1160 (oldies): all fair level around 10:31
1420: ESPN Radio ID at fair level at 07:54. Likely KKEA, Honolulu
1460, 1500, 1540, 1580 (latter in SS): all poor to fair.
1640: “From Washington, DC, this is …..” at 07:57. Did hear a “1640” ID
at 07:57. Not sure who this would be. The format doesn’t seem to fit the
2 OR stations. Perhaps WTNI, Biloxi?
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