As most west coast DXers know the Rockwork ocean cliff near Manzanita,
Oregon easily holds the record for New Zealand reception in North America
during a DXpedition, but last month the "Kiwi Magic" seemed to include two
other nearby Pacific island DU's which seemed to enjoy the same, cliff-boosted
propagation rush-- 558-Fiji and 1017-Tonga.
File review is adding to the charm of the trip, with multiple S9
recordings from Tonga showing up over the 9 days. Of course numerous New
Zealand stations also managed their best-ever signals, including 531-More FM,
594-Star, 657-Star, 756-RNZ and 936-Chinese Voice. After file review the 2 kW
relay 639-RNZ was the latest to join the list with an S7 level on August 1, and
even the Tasmanian 585-7RN hit its first S9 level ever. But the signals from
Fiji and Tonga were both in a higher league than in previous years, resulting
in awesome music peaks from each station at various times during the trip.
Quite an unforgettable way to close out the summer!
558 Radio Fiji One Suva, Fiji, 10 kW S9 Island music with song medley ID
("Radio Fiji One, Na Domoiviti") at 1:38 into the recording at 1252 on 8-1.
This was its strongest signal ever at the cliff
https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/vhwdviemmimdxervjaoe1qqci7a59dqj
1017 A3Z Nuku'alofa, Tonga, 10 kW During my first morning at the cliff (on
August 1st) the newly rejuvenated station had an overwhelming S9+ signal all
session long. This was in comparison to marginal reception in Spanish splatter
(from 1020-KTNQ) in years past. Neither Craig Barnes nor I could believe our
ears. This island music was recorded at 1314
https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/xgw85zga7d337r8905bnyu1qdgmvepn8
This Tongan island music was received on the same morning at 1221
https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/ime1qsdd32h6wh0pumkrsozhwy6xestn
On the second day (8-2), Tonga "only" reached an S9 level with its beautiful
island music (at 1318)
https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/k4tnfovufud0ek4zjkaexcpwayug5v97
The new Big Gun DU pounds in with S9 music at 1250 on 8-3
https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/1l1xkyix03o7onoxsmr1wa2tsivqxr8s
The 5 kW Australian station 1017-2KY tries to make it a horse race at 1304 on
8-8, but ends up folding in the clutch
https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/r6yrwe7pzze6kw59qnzrbg8c704kg1l2
The exact same segment was recorded on the stand-alone 7.5" loopstick XHDATA
D-808 model at 1304 on 8-8 (all the others were assisted by the 17" FSL
antenna). Even the hot-rodded portable receives a fine signal from Tonga (and a
sinking signal from Sydney)
https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/xw0vuzpbqyg2gc0ekh7s2tdzm5n6r7l0
73 and Good DX,
Gary DeBock (in Puyallup, WA, USA)
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