[IRCA] DXpedition to Masset, BC 17 - 25 January 2015 Part I

[Walter Salmaniw <canswl@xxxxxxxxx>]

The powers that be continue to restrict postings to this list to a mere 35
kB, so I'll attempt to abide by the rules, by breaking the posting into
several parts!

I just spent 10 days at my DX cottage in Masset, Haida Gwaii (formerly the
Queen Charlotte Islands) off the north coast of British Columbia.  As
always, I had a great deal of time to devote to radio listening.  My setup
included using a Perseus SDR, as well as an AOR 7030+ receiver (which often
performed better than the Perseus), and a NRD 535D (rarely used).  For
antennae, I mainly used a 750â BOG aimed to the NW (unterminated) to cover
the east coast of Asia, an ALA 100 LN aimed NE/SW, and a 450â Beverage
aimed due north terminated into the ocean.  The main advantage of Masset is
the extremely quiet RF environment, allowing reception of stations rarely
or never heard elsewhere.  Conditions, for the most part were mediocre,
except for a couple of days of exceptionally good reception on January 21
and 22, 2015.  Here are my MW/LW loggings.  Please excuse any errors, as
the typing was done in the wee hours of the morning, while actively
DXing.  Comments are always welcome, and especially corrections!  73,  Walt
Salmaniw, Victoria, BC







JAPAN 1575, 1708-, AFN Jan 18 MW conditions were mostly a bust this
morning, but I did notice that AFN from Japan was booming in later in the
morning especially after 17:00 UTC.  No sign of any cochannel stations.
It's only after 9:00 AM local and clearly, the days are getting longer with
sunrise just a few minutes ago at 16:55 UTC (8:55 AM local).  Gravity ID at
17:13 UTC.  I suspect that this AFN station is the Misawa station, but I
seem never to hear any local IDs!  I listened for over an hour up to 19:00,
when conditions improved and heard many PSAs for the military, and frequent
'Gravity, the party station' IDs, but never anything local, besides the
PSAs (like how to take a train and buy tickets in Japan).  At one point
between 18:00 and 19:00, I could definitely hear 2 co-channel AFN stations,
but this lasted perhaps a minute only. (Salmaniw,Masset, BC)



SOUTH KOREA 1566, 1901-, HLAZ Jan 18 As so often is the case, the MW came
back to a prolonged TP session, with HLAZ signing off their Russian
program, and into Korean at excellent level.  AFN 1575, still audible, but
weak. (Salmaniw,Masset, BC)



SOUTH KOREA 1566, 1903-, HLAZ Jan 18 FEBC's powerful station in South Korea
is a regular, long after everything else has faded.  I left the recorder
going past 19:00 to see how long it would continue.  Reception was still
very good past 20:20, and finally faded out about 20:45 UTC, which
corresponds to 12:45 PM local!. (Salmaniw,Masset, BC)


JAPAN 1575, 1708-, AFN Jan 18 MW conditions were mostly a bust this
morning, but I did notice that AFN from Japan was booming in later in the
morning especially after 17:00 UTC.  No sign of any cochannel stations.
It's only after 9:00 AM local and clearly, the days are getting longer with
sunrise just a few minutes ago at 16:55 UTC (8:55 AM local).  Gravity ID at
17:13 UTC.  I suspect that this AFN station is the Misawa station, but I
seem never to hear any local IDs!  I listened for over an hour up to 19:00,
when conditions improved and heard many PSAs for the military, and frequent
'Gravity, the party station' IDs, but never anything local, besides the
PSAs (like how to take a train and buy tickets in Japan).  At one point
between 18:00 and 19:00, I could definitely hear 2 co-channel AFN stations,
but this lasted perhaps a minute only. (Salmaniw,Masset, BC)



SOUTH KOREA 1566, 1901-, HLAZ Jan 18 As so often is the case, the MW came
back to a prolonged TP session, with HLAZ signing off their Russian
program, and into Korean at excellent level.  AFN 1575, still audible, but
weak. (Salmaniw,Masset, BC)



SOUTH KOREA 1566, 1903-, HLAZ Jan 18 FEBC's powerful station in South Korea
is a regular, long after everything else has faded.  I left the recorder
going past 19:00 to see how long it would continue.  Reception was still
very good past 20:20, and finally faded out about 20:45 UTC, which
corresponds to 12:45 PM local!. (Salmaniw,Masset, BC)



SOUTH KOREA 1566, 1609-, HLAZ Jan 20 I have looked into this frequency at
length this morning.  Yesterday, I assumed that they were not transmitting
for a time, but I am mistaken.  I saw that Nick and Bruce 1000 km to the
south from me were hearing them yesterday.  Looking carefully, I am sure
that they are there, but with a poor signal.  I measure three
transmitters:  The strongest is on 1566.003, which is likely HLAZ.  Then,
there's 1565.032 which is likely Hubei RGD, and finally, there was a
transmitter on 1565.999 which left the air at 16:18 UTC.  Not sure they
could be.  In either case, perhaps the power has been reduced, or the
antenna system changed from past years.  I surely do no recall any 'down
time' with HLAZ in the past!. (Salmaniw,Masset, BC)  addendum:   Mauno
Ritola has confirmed that the M-F schedule differs from the weekend
schedule!



SOUTH KOREA 1467, 1700-, HLKN Jan 20 Immediately noticed a bubble jammer,
and had to think who this could be.  It seemed to stop over the TOH, but as
soon as they started to speak again, it began again.  This is HLKN, a KBS 1
channel in South Korea, and heard // to 711. (Salmaniw,Masset, BC)


JAPAN 567, 1719-, JOIK Jan 20 A real nice dawn enhancement, especially on
the lower frequencies, with strong reception of this NHK1 transmitter from
Sapporo.  594 from Tokyo is much weaker, while South Korea on 603 (HLSA) is
also very strong.   This morning has proven to be about the strongest so
far since my arrival on Friday. (Salmaniw,Masset, BC)



NORTH KOREA 801, 1728-, Pyongyang Bangsong Jan 20 Very interesting to watch
the presumed carrier from North Korea (see my screen capture).  Highly
variable carrier, wandering all around and drifiting constantly!
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