Earlier this month my wife and I stumbled across an outstanding 6-day
Costco Travel package to the Aston at Poipu Kai on Hawaii's Kauai island, the
westernmost of the main Hawaiian islands (and closest to Asia). Included in the
$2.3K cost was roundtrip airfare for two on Alaska Air (nonstop from Seattle
both ways, with no "red-eye" flights), 5 nights at a gorgeous, beachside 2-BR
condo with a patio area ideal for TP-DXing (and within easy walking distance to
the island's best snorkeling beach), a full sized new rental car and a $50
Costco cash card to use for a little spending $$. This was far and away the
best travel bargain we have ever had to the Hawaiian Islands-- and right in the
middle of the DX season!
The location at Poipu Kai is at the extreme southeastern tip of Kauai
Island, which offers a clear, unobstructed salt water path to Asia, ANZ, the
Pacific islands and both North and South America. Unfortunately, it also offer
a clear salt water path to the RF Zoo of Honolulu (more about that later).
Of course, before you can chase DX in Hawaii you will need to bring along
some kind of radio and antenna-- whether it is a hot-performing portable, an
SDR along with a small broadband antenna or an Ultralight with a "Frequent
Flyer" miniature FSL. Whatever you bring will need to go through TSA
inspections both ways-- so try not to get too complicated or extravagant.
Fragile items can be taken in hand-carry luggage, so use this for radios, FSL
antennas, digital recorders and anything else that could be smashed. Also keep
in mind that many large motels and condos do not allow external antennas to be
set up on their property-- and most of them generate enough indoor RFI to make
DXing indoors a lost cause. Before leaving for the Islands, be ready with a
DXing plan that you know will work!
For me, TP-DXing with a modified CC Skywave SSB portable and TSA-friendly
FSL antenna in the large open patio area right outside our condo meant chasing
enhanced DX right in the middle of a gorgeous beach side garden (video at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CbS3zUD6hI&t=29s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CbS3zUD6hI&t=29s ) These 2-BR condo
complexes were overbuilt somewhat, and the mainland owners of these condos
badly need the tourist rental income to pay their mortgages. The competition
for this rental income is high. As such, the cost per night for a stay at one
of these newer 2-BR condos on Kauai is about the same as for a well-worn 1-BR
motel room in Kona (on the Big Island).
So, what can a TP-DXer expect from the transoceanic propagation at Poipu
Kai? First of all, there is so much enhanced DX coming from so many different
areas of the world that you will need to carefully choose your priorities. What
is your main DXing thrill? For me, it was chasing exotic Asian DX that was
unlikely or unavailable at home in the Pacific Northwest. Unfortunately, when I
tried to do this during the evening hours on Kauai (0700-1000 UTC) there was so
much enhanced transoceanic DX coming from North and South America that the
frequencies became a snarling maze of languages and heterodynes. During a check
of 801 for kHz Pyongyang BS at 0922 UTC the frequency was completely hijacked
by 800-Radio Transmundial in the Caribbean (near South America). The same thing
was going on all over the band, with North And South American stations on the
10 kHz band plan fighting it out with Asians and Pacific Islanders using the 9
kHz frequency system. Honolulu QRM added its own
distinctive touch to this jumbled fiasco, and eventually I was forced to
concentrate on sunrise DXing sessions in order to track down any really exotic
Asian DX. The bands were so much quieter during the sunrise sessions starting
around 1500 UTC. Of course, if a DXer was mainly interested in North or South
American DX in Kauai he could have made out like a bandit around local sunset,
when the Asian and Pacific Island stations would not yet have faded in. (TO BE
CONTINUED)
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