Oh boy, this takes me back Gary. Listening to KFI, KORL, all the West Coast, and some East (like WBZ-1030) on a "9 transistor" National Panasonic radio from the Southern end of your cliff-enhanced path around 1960-62 and earlier, on other larger rigs. I really must dig up the photo I took of R. Rhema's (684, formerly 648 KHz) amazing antenna location. Nominally Gisborne, the actual transmitter/tower is a little SW of (Google Earth) Mahia, quite a distance from Gisborne. Mahia is most of the way East on the North shore of the Mahia Peninsula, on which I spent a number of happy hours about ten years ago studying the geology with my Gisborne-based brother Chris, then Chief Science Officer East Coast North Island. A very few wavelengths from the tower the signal was already swimming its way to you on the Oregon shore.
Congratulations. Wot fun! Tony (VE3NO) NYAA Starfest [email protected] http://www.nyaa.ca Schrodinger's cat is dead --- and living in Whitby! ________________________________ From: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> To: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] Sent: Monday, July 23, 2012 3:31:05 PM Subject: [IRCA] Top Ten South Pacific Signals from the Cape Perpetua (OR) Cliff Hello All, >From July 17-21 Norm Clark and I had the exciting experience of DXing from the Cape Perpetua cliff site on Oregon's central coast, setting up with a hot-rodded PL-380 Ultralight radio and an 8" FSL antenna on a Highway 101 road side turn off (with an awesome ocean view). The operating conditions were rough (no AC power, running water, street lights or weather protection) and setup space was extremely limited, but the thrilling DU-DX was more than worth the hassle! Recordings from the strongest DU stations are linked below. 567-Radio National (Wellington, NZ, 50 kW) A regular every morning on the Cliff, with a mix of news, interviews and music. // 675 http://www.mediafire.com/?9z8vnphq6thc9p2 603-Radio Waatea (Auckland, NW, 5 kW) Maori-language music and news, quite vibrant during good Kiwi conditions http://www.mediafire.com/?fjsnsk95l62iims 657-Southern Star (Wellington, NZ, 50 kW) Christian music broadcaster with extremely strong signals during good Kiwi propagation http://www.mediafire.com/?ijcacg8uqmvian9 684-NZ Rhema (Gisborne, NZ, 5 kW) Another Christian music broadcaster with an exceptional signal for its transmitter power level http://www.mediafire.com/?bge7anmbo8j79a8 738-RFO Tahiti (Mahina, Tahiti, 20 kW) A French language blowtorch on the Cliff almost every morning, this station frequently tested the PL-380's crunch resistance. One of only two stations not from New Zealand to make this "Top Ten" list http://www.mediafire.com/?a4shuubhn36b6aa 765-Radio Kahungunu (Napier-Hastings, NZ, 2.5 kW) The booming signals from this low-powered Maori language broadcaster almost reached science fiction levels on the Cliff. Part of the mystique is that this station (and 603-Waatea) have apparently never been received at the famous Grayland DXpedition site in Washington state. The second MP3 has a beautiful Maori-language rendition of the old Jackson 5 hit, "I'll Be There." http://www.mediafire.com/?my4o957wpjtve0m http://www.mediafire.com/?53ixrx2kv109g34 828-Radio Trackside (Palmerston North, NZ, 2 kW) Another low-powered Kiwi station with amazing signals on the Cliff. Apparently helped by bizarre propagation shutting out Australian stations, it frequently ruled the roost on this frequency http://www.mediafire.com/?53b7zau8787ie0j 891-5AN (Adelaide, Australia, 50 kW) The sole Aussie to make this list, this ABC broadcaster apparently benefited from its central Australia location, giving it booming signals while eastern Australia was down in the noise. A frequent blowtorch on the Cliff http://www.mediafire.com/?rsvoh1aro2w0xtr 1008-Newstalk ZB (Tauranga, NZ, 10 kW) One of the stronger Kiwis, but its proximity to a 1010 kHz domestic station saddled it with a tedious 2 kHz heterodyne on the low-tech Tecsun ultralight. The strongest of the Kiwi Newstalk ZB stations on the Cliff http://www.mediafire.com/?nl9j9f242ldirfm Of course, many other South Pacific stations were received on the Cliff, but these were just the ten strongest ones. Low-powered New Zealand stations (and one obscure 400w Aussie X-bander on 1701 kHz) were the order of the day. A full DXpedition report on this bizarre 4-day trip will be prepared shortly, which hopefully will motivate other DXing fanatics to push their luck on the cliffs! 73 and Good DX, Gary DeBock (in Puyallup, WA, USA) Cape Perpetua DXpedition video posted at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZzBfstOXA4 _______________________________________________ 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] _______________________________________________ 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]
