Gary,
I recall my very first Chinese tropo opening at my new place in Korea. I had
assumed no such non-Korean tropo could or would ever exist as it didn't
exist anywhere inland. I didn't know any Chinese really and all of the
signals were appearing in between frequencies (like on 90.45, etc.) on my
radio. I had no idea where they were from, could barely decipher full TOH
IDs, just nothing at all. And the FM dial from 88 to 108 had more than about
100 different Chinese signals on it from 250 to 600+ miles and obliterating
many of my 30-mile locals on my MP3 player with an earphones wire as my
antenna. It was overwhelming to keep track of them, record them, and fight
off mosquitoes at night while doing it on my hilltop. That first opening
lasted nearly 7 straight days.
I kept those recordings. And later, I was able to ID almost all of them.
They're the tropo stations I'd hear for years after that and eventually I
was able to ID them almost instantly the moment I tuned into them. By now, I
can understand IDs, numbers, and a lot more effortlessly. I also am quite
familiar with all those stations I'd hear for so many years. I'd later get a
better radio that could tune AM as well (and yet again started from the
beginning with that band) and got a quality voice recorder to hook up to
that to improve my recordings and storage. Apparently I'm considered an
expert on radio on the Korean peninsula and East Asian AM radio. I mean,
who'd have thought? (I still don't).
Everyone has to start somewhere. You just persist and find ways to gain
knowledge, improve your hobby for yourself and others, and one day it's all
effortless. Craig will figure out what works for him and he'll be an
excellent TP DXer in the future if he returns to an ideal location. He's
obviously got a lot of good help with it.
-Chris Kadlec
Seoul AM Radio Listening Guide
http://www.beaglebass.com/dx/seoul
Date: Tue, 2 May 2017 21:47:04 +0000 (UTC)
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [IRCA] Craig Barnes' TP-DXpedition to Princeville, Kauai,
Hawaii (Part Two)
Chris,
Thanks very much for providing your own assessment on Craig's Kauai
TP-DXing videos.
<<< 837 Because you don't have an actual audio input and a lot of that
sound is
lost between the radio and your phone, it's hard to confirm this as much.
Though you are likely correct on your assumption. Mandarin nonetheless.
>>>
Sooner or later I'll probably need to convince Craig that much (if not
most) of the TP-DX signal strength of these different Asian stations is
being lost by the recording format of using an iPhone to shoot a video.
The S/N readouts on the PL-310 indicate quite a bit more Asian signal
quality than what is showing up in the videos. On the other hand Craig is
doing his best to record a torrent of Asian DX in his first major
DXpedition, most of which is in unfamiliar languages and on unfamiliar
frequencies for him. He is certainly doing his best with the limited gear
that he brought along for the trip, and will certainly become a more
skillful DXpeditioner as he gets more experience in various travel
opportunities.
Gary
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