A five day trip to Aitutaki in the Southern Cook Islands kicked off this evening after the successful deployment of a 5" TSA-friendly FSL antenna and two 7.5" loopstick CC Skywave Ultralight models. As with all other of these "Frequent Flyer" FSL models, the antenna breezed through TSA screening at three different airports, and is ready to provide inductive coupling gain similar to that of a 4' air core box loop during this ocean beach trip.
The first DXing session this evening was primarily designed to check out propagation, and conditions within the DU area were phenomenal. A 7.5" loopstick model alone had an S9 mix of 531-PI and More FM, S9 signals from 540-Samoa, 558-Fiji, 630-Cook Islands, 846-Kiribati, 1017-Tonga and 1098-Marshalls, an S9 Newstalk ZB in the null of 1017-Tonga, an S9 Newstalk ZB in the null of 1098-Marshalls, an S9 signal from the 1 kW 936-Chinese Voice in Auckland, etc. I had planned to set up the 5" FSL this evening but the hot-rodded CC Skywave was receiving almost every target station at a huge level, making it seem like overkill. The conditions here are like a potent mix of Kona, Hawaii Pacific island propagation and Rockwork 4 New Zealand propagation (only much better). Really wild performance from just a 7.5" loopstick-- more details and MP3's to follow. 73 and Good DX, Gary DeBock (DXing in Aitutaki, Cook Islands) 7.5" loopstick CC Skywave SSB models (2) + 5 inch "Frequent Flyer" FSL antenna _______________________________________________ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
