My wife, DX-398 and I took a trip on a Holland America liner out of Fort Lauderdale 11/26-12/3 and visited Grand Turk, San Juan, St. Thomas and a little Bahamian island owned by the line. This is not meant to be an exhaustive analysis of all receptions, but rather just some comments on some noteworthy things.
HAITI - the liner cruised by Hispaniola twice but only one Haitian station was ever noted - 4VEF-840. Since the band was loaded with Dominican Republic stations, I have to wonder if the Haitians are off the air or are operating at extremely reduced power or just on limited schedules. No Haitian FM signals noted either. TAs - about a dozen hets were heard. The Saudi on 1521 had audio on 11/26 about 2 hours out of Ft. Lauderdale (6pm EST) and the Brit on 1089 was readable at midnight. However, despite several checks during the trip, I never heard a peep out of Absolute-1215. NEVIS - VON-860 popped in one afternoon at 3pm ET with three nondescript C&W selections, an ID, and then "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" by Alvin and the Chipmunks. CUBA - they are all over the place. The 671 het was audible just about everywhere. Multiple transmitters noted on 670 710 1140 1180 and 1620. VENEZUELA/COLOMBIA/BONAIRE - obviously they were banging in at a good level the further east I got. 780 was the first one noted, giving a "6:30" time check at my 6:00. Bonaire-800 not as good as it used to be (ex-500kw, now 50kw, as I recall). 770 in a couple of times. U.S. - along with many of the 50kw stations, WPRO-630 was noted one evening which makes sense considering its night pattern. Unusual one morning at 12:06a was WFIR-960. MIAMI STAs - It is my understanding that WIOD-610 and WAXY-790 have STAs for 10kw to offset Cuban interference. I have to wonder if WWFE-670 is similarly empowered with either 10 or 50kw at night. MIAMI TOWER - when I was doing the all night show at WQAM eons ago, I could look out the window while I was taking transmitter readings and see the tower in Biscayne Bay. It was reassuring to see it there with the red call letters on the south side. Radio-Locator now shows their tower to be on an island off the Rickenbacker Causeway. However, there is still a tower on the north side of Highway 1A as you leave Miami for Miami Beach. Surely, Scott, you know the details on this. I have not DXed in an East Coast environment since the late 60s (from Boston). Between that and the plethora of Cubans and the fact that I am too far removed to be able to readily differentiate between Cuban, DR, Venezuelan and Colombian accents, there is no way I could come up with a bandscan. However, as always, it was fun going up and down a band truly different from mine at home. Pete Taylor Tacoma, WA 12225w 4719n HQ180 & ICF2010 Kiwa aircore & Palomar loops DX398, SRF-59 & M37V Eton E100 + Tecsun PL-300/380 _______________________________________________ IRCA mailing list [email protected] http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: [email protected]
