*/Dxing report from the South Pacific (sailing
toward Tonga) for November 16, 2009:/*
Hello, everyone! Were now 2 days outbound from
The Bay of Islands, New Zealand and bound for
Tonga. During these at-sea days, theres more
time and energy to do some serious DXing and
thats exactly what Ive been doing. On November
16^th , I concentrated on the 9 kHz channels,
whereas last night it was the 10 kHz channels. A
lot of what I heard Ive recorded with a running
mp3 recorder (iRiver 795T). The MW noise from
the ship, at least at the aft end is remarkably
absent and using Garys modified eton e100 with
the Murata filter and large ferrite rod
(tuneable) has enabled me to do some good Dxing
in a very small package. Its rather fun sitting
in the semi-dark with ear buds holding my tiny
receiver and rotating it this way and that. Have
had a few people ask what I was up to, though!
Of course on the first night, New Zealand
dominated. Im surprised by the huge number of
transmitters carrying the same program
(especially the Newstalk ZB network, and to a
lesser extent New Zealands Rhema, Southern
Star, and Radio New Zealand National. They sure
get out. Dont bother with legal local IDs.
Instead they all seem to carry local ads which
easily ID the station and location. I simply
made notes, and later went through my loggings
and was usually able to ID the station with the
help of PAL. Thanks, Bruce and David for that!
Here we go for Nov 16^th . Assume approximately
the same time as the previous loggings as I
pretty much systematically went from 531 upwards:
531 08:42 531PI in Auckland with 5 kw in
presumed Samoan mentioning Easter Island and
then an English ad for an appliance store in
Hunters Corner, and other English ads. Excellent. Weaker cochannel with music.
549: 09:00 Rhema from Kaltaia, Northland with 2
kW and cochannel Radio Trackside 1 kW from Napier.
558: Radio Fiji 1, Naulu 10 kW with Trackside
Sport ID at 10:50 (listed as Radio Sport,
Invercargill 5 kW
note the different ID). I was
surprised how well the Invercargill and Dunedin stations came in.
567: Radio NZ National, Wellington with 50 kW. Very strong at 09:06.
576: The Word, Hamilton with 2.5 kW with
religious programming and weaker cochannel, presumed ABC Sydney with 50 kW.
585: unid oldies
594: unid with modern pop music
603: unid modern soul music.
612: unid , // 594 and 621. This is either ABC
Brisbane (with the others being 3WV Horsham and
ABC Melbourne) or possibly Rhema. Not sure.
630: Radio NZ National, Napier-Hastings with 10
kW with NZ news re Wellington bus accidents. //
to 639 (weak) 2 kW from Alexandra, Otago.
648: 10:51 ID for NZs Rhema. Very strong. From Gisborne, 5 kW.
657: strong pop music, and EZL music. Presumed
Southern Star, Wellington with 50 kW.
666: RFO, New Caledonia. 20 kW, Noumea. Very
good reception with lots of French talk
(Bonsoir, bonsoir, bonsoir
.). //729 barely
audible. At 09:59, heard cochannel ABC jingle to
TOH, making this 2CN, ABC Canberra with 5 kW.
Later on at 11:02:40 noted RFO ID at excellent level.
675: Radio NZ National, Christchurch 10 kW. NZ weather. Excellent.
684: 2KP ABC mid-North Coast, Kempsey 10kW. Call
in program discussing the Rural Parks Service,
fires. Phone # given as 1300 222
690: possibly KHNR, Honolulu with 10 kW. Thought
I might have heard CBC, but not sure (which
would have made in CBU, Vancouver). Fair reception.
693: Radio Sport, Dunedin 5 kW discussing
Nigerias disqualification from the world cup.
702: Radio Live, Auckland 10 kW >> cochannel
711: Radio Trackside, Wellington 5 kW with sport
play by play with het. Fair reception.
720: Radio NZ National, Invercargill 10 kW with talk program at good level.
729: Radio Sport, Wangarei 2.5 kW discussing rugby
738: Radio Live with ID at excellent level.
Christchurch 5 kW. Ad giving a phone number as:
0-800-CONTAINER, and ID as Christchurch 99.3 FM. No sign of Tahiti.
747: 2 cochannels at poor/fair level.
750: KFQD, Anchorage at fair level at 09:28 with
ID as, Newstalk KFQD. Happy to hear this one at this distance!
756: Radio NZ National, Auckland 10 kW. With
call-in about the future of music at good level,
with a weaker cochannel music station.
765: unid with pop music ?Napier?
774: Radio Sport, New Plymouth 5 kw with talk
about ball control, and cochannel ABC Melbourne 50 kW.
783: Access Radio, Wellington 10 kW. Very strong with music.
792: Radio Sport, Hamilton 5 kW with talk about
a player needing shoulder surgery.
810: Radio NZ National, Dunedin 10 kW. Very good
reception, // 819 also very good from Tauranga
with 10 kW. Also weak cochannel with music.
Discussing building a business using the internet.
828: Radio Trackside, Palmerston-North 2 kW.
Fair with sports, and cochannel too.
837: Radio NZ National, with 2 transmitters in
the Northland at 2 and 2.5 kW. Excellent reception with NZ business.
846: 2 cochannels at fair level. Newstalk ZB, Masterton 2 kW and ?ABC
855: Rhema, Hamilton 2 kW with Gods Word and weaker cochannel with music.
860: ? WCNA with music at poor level.
864: Newstalk ZB, Invercargill 10 kW // to 873 below.
873: Newstalk ZB, Ashburton 1 kW at good level,
and cochannel sports (Radio Trackside, Tauranga 1 kW).
882: probably Southern Star, Auckland with 10 kW
with The best songs of all times. Less likely
4BH, Brisbane with 5 kW. Good level
900: Southern Star, Dunedin 10 kW with song, In
the Summertime at fair/good level plus another
cochannel with music. Just noticed that I should have checked if // 882! Duhh!
918: Radio NZ National, with 2- 2.5 kW
transmitters with sports talk at fair level.
927: very muffly audio, impossible to
understand. ? Fiji? And cochannel Newstalk ZB Palmerston North with 2 kW.
936: New Supremo 936, Waiuku, 1 kW with Chinese at very good level.
954: Coast, Dunedin 1 kw at fair to good level with music.
963: Southern Star, Christchurch with 10 kW at
excellent level. With EZL music.
972: NZs Rhema, Wellington 5 kW at good level
about enhanced education outside the classroom.
981: Radio NZ National, Kaikohe, Northland 2 kW
with Conservation Minister call-in and cochannel with music.
**990: A bit of a mystery for me. Hindi (or
possibly Arabic) sounding music at very good
level. Did the Radio Trackside, Nelson station
change format?? Seemed too strong to be from
Australia. What format is 4RO, Rockhampton?
1008: Newstalk ZB, Tauranga 10 kW at very good level about different cultures.
1017: A3Z NukuAlofa, Tonga (our next
destination) with drums, Radio Tonga ID, hymns
at good level with cochannel music.
1026: Newstalk ZB with echo. There are 2
transmitters here and not exactly in sync:
Whangarei 2 kW, and Kaitaia with 2 kW. Interesting sound!
1035: Newstalk ZB, Wellington 20 kW. 11 to 11
time check. (09:49) with px about, should we
teach Asian history in our schools.
1044: Newstalk ZB, Dunedin 10 kW with Dunedins
Newstalk ZB ID and a carpet ad. Good reception.
// to 1053 at poor/fair from New Plymouth with 2 kW.
1062: unid at poor to fair with seeming ID as
??? Greatest hits. Not sure who fits the format.
1071: loud het with 2 cochannels: Call in show
from Radio NZ National, Masterton 2.5 kW and
Radio Trackside, Ashburton 6 kW with play by
play). 1070 from presumed WCNA also just audible.
1080: Newstalk ZB, Auckland 10 kW at very good
level. // 1098 also very good from Christchurch, 5 kW.
1107: Radio Live with a Bay of Plenty ad at good
level. 2 tx listed with 1 kW from Tauranga and 10 kw from Rotorua.
1116: Radio NZ National, Nelson 2.5 kW. Good level
1125: unid pop music and a het from ? source.
Cochannel Radio Sport, Napier with 1 kW.
1134: Radio NZ National, Queenstown with 2 kW at
fair to good level. // to 1143 at 09:58 at very
good level, which is Hamilton with 25 kW.
1152: Newstalk ZB, Timaru 2 kw at good level with news at 10:00.
1161: unid station, mentioning, update at YKU.
Is this the Maori station in Wellington with 5 kW?
1179: unid station at good level with music. ?Maori station in Auckland?
1188: Radio NZ National , Rotorua with only 0.4
kW at very good level. RNZ ID with news and weather.
1197: Newstalk ZB, Wanganui, with 2 kW with call in show at good level.
1206: Radio Trackside, Dunedin with 2 kW with
play by play plus equal cochannel with music, unid.
1215: Newstalk ZB, Kaikohe, 2 kW at excellent level.
1224: Radio Trackside, Invercargill, 1 kW and weak cochannel.
1242: possible 1XX, Whakatane, Bay of Plenty
with 2 kW with music at fair level.
1251: Rhema, Auckland with 2 kW at excellent level.
1260: Radio Trackside, Christchurch, with 2 kW at weak level.
1269: pres. Classic Hits, Tukaka, Nelson with
only 0.4 kW with EZL music and weak cochannel.
1278: Newstalk ZB with 2 transmitters listed in
Eltham (2.5 kW) and Napier (2 kW). Very good
level with talk about studying Asian history. //
1296 Hamilton, 2.5 kW at excellent level.
1305: possible Radio Dunedin, 2.5 kW at fair level, with Titanic theme song.
1314: Southern Star, Invercargill with 10 kW with music. At excellent level.
1332: Radio Sport, Auckland with 10 kW with sports talk at very good level.
1341: Newstalk ZB, Nelson with 2 kW giving ad
for ?grafitti removal, then call-in number as 0800801080. Fair to good level.
1350: Radio Sport, Rotorua with 1 kW talking about NZ rugby. Fair level.
1359: Oldies music (if you leave me now
) at
fair to good level, and weaker cochannel talk. 2
NZ stations listed: More FM, Queenstown with 1
kW and Coast, New Plymouth with 2.5 kW.
1368: Radio Live, Napier with 1 kW at poor/fair level.
1377: Radio Sport, Levin with 2 kW at very good level.
1386: Radio Tarana, Auckland with 10 kW at
superb level with Hindi music. No wonder it gets
out so well to North America! One of the strongest stations I can hear.
1395: Newstalk ZB, Oamaru, with 2 kW at poor/fair level with call-in.
1404: Rhema, Invercargill with 5 kW at very good
level with music, then local ads for Burnside motors and South Center Mall.
1413: Newstalk ZB, Tokoroa with 2 kW at fair level.
1431: unid oldies music. Possibly Radio
Kidnappers, Hastings with 2 kW at fair level.
1440: unid with oldie music, then a choral
piece. ? Maori station in Tauranga with 0.2 kW at good level.
1449: Radio NZ National, Palmerston North with
2.5 kW at good level with music. // to 1458 Westport, 2.5 kW at fair level.
1476: Radio Trackside, Auckland with 5 kW at
good level. // 1485 at Gisborne, with 1 kW at very good level.
1494: Southern Star, Hamilton with 5 kW at very good level with vocal.
1503: Radio Sport, Christchurch or Wellington
with 2.5 or 5 kW, with Radio Sport ID and time check for 46 minutes after.
1512: probable ABC National, Newcastle with 10
kW with fair level and cochannel, with special
program about Australias forgotten.
1521: Radio Sport, Tauranga with 1 kW.
1530: Coast, Napier with 1 kW with, Timeless
music all the time, at very good level.
1539: Radio Sport, Blenheim with 1 kW and strong het.
1548: Radio Trackside, Rotorua with 0.9 kW and
weak cochannel with oldies (Coast, Palmerston North with 1 kW).
1557: Coast, Hawera, Taranaki with 2 kW at
excellent level. // to 1530 and 1548 and 1593 (Christchurch, 2.5 kW).
1566: No luck with Norfolk Island with mostly an
empty channel until late in the evening with
Australia fades in. 3NE, Solid Gold, Wangaratta
with 5 kW and announcing 15, double 6 at fair
level, and increasing to good by 10:33. Note the
website for Norfolk Island broadcasting suggests
a very much shorter broadcast day than does PAL. Worthwhile investigating.
1575: Presumed Toroa Radio, Dunedin with 2.5 kW.
BBCWS simulcast at very good level and BBC ID at
11:05. Heard consistently here. Not sure who
else this would be, but PAL does not list BBCWS at this time, but its there!
1593: Radio Samoa, Auckland with 5 kW in Samoan presumably at very good level.
1602: 2XA Levin with 2.5 kW at excellent level
with print handicapped programming.
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