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Re: [IRCA] DX Season
It is interesting that there has been some fine
coastal receptions of New Zealand in recent
years, as I think I recall some pretty "dry"
summer DXpeditions back in the days of west coast
Vancouver Island adventures. Of course,
receivers, antennas and techniques have improved,
but whether enough to make that sort of change, I
couldn't say. Even now, a coastal Beverage is
still a pretty good reference antenna.
The very first Vancouver Island coastal
expedition in early July 1979 produced a lot of
NSW and Queensland Aussies, not much New Zealand,
and I seem to recall one summer coastal
DXpedition that yielded exactly one 10kw Zedder (and not much else).
It would be interesting to go through old
Grayland logs as well, as there were a number of
solstice DXpeditions. A comment made by John
Bryant in July 2003, "First morning in several
years at Grayland that a significant number of
Kiwi stations were present." makes me wonder
whether we're living through the "good old days"
as far as summer coastal receptions of New Zealand are concerned.
Having heard Western Australia a couple of times
at home in the '80s (and not since), but
practically never China, while China has been
much more frequent in the last decade does make
me wonder if we're dealing with long term
reception patterns that may even go beyond a
single sunspot cycle. Many other variables affect what we receive of course.
(Things to speculate about instead of looking for
non-existent DX in mid-winter, a point I think we can all agree on at present.)
best wishes,
Nick
At 03:34 03-01-16, you wrote:
A very interesting discussion. There's no doubt
that strong reception of New Zealand requires a
serious dose of salt water (or better yet, a
cliff above salt water), but the peak season for
optimal Kiwi reception seems to be from July 1
to August 15th. Bill W. wisely makes his
DU-chasing trips in late July, and Chuck had his
all-time record NZ results in mid-July. Â When
Kiwi propagation really kicks into gear at
Rockwork 4 the signal levels can approach those
of big gun Asians during the fall season
(especially during these lean solar years). This
exciting DU-DX during the dogs days of summer
certainly is one of fringe benefits of living
on the left coast, but you would never even
know that it exists if you stay at your inland
location. Â 73, Gary DeBock (in Puyallup, WA, USA)
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