From November 3-8 my wife and I took advantage of an outstanding Costco
Travel package to the Aston at Poipu Kai on Hawaii's Kauai island ("the Garden
Island"), which included round trip airfare for two (nonstop from Seattle), six
days in a new 2-BR condo right near the island's best salt water beach and a
newer, full-sized rental car-- all included in the $2.3K cost. But the biggest
value turned out to be the awesome ocean beach transoceanic DXing.
After two trips to Kona (on the Big Island) with Ultralights and a 5 inch
"Frequent Flyer" FSL I did have some Hawaii DXing experience, but the
transoceanic results during those trips were limited to East Asia and the
Pacific islands. For this trip the 5 inch FSL would have an upgraded variable
cap, and be boosted by a 4 foot PVC base. As it turned out, these modest
improvements would transform the tiny ferrite antenna into the ultimate compact
DXing thriller. MW stations in Oman, Egypt, Iran, India, Bangladesh, Myanmar,
Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand were all received, along with multiple stations
in the Philippines and Taiwan. 800-PJB off the coast of South America also
crashed one of the evening sessions. This was like the "final exam" of the
Frequent Flyer Ultralight gear-- which demonstrated the potential of this
forward Pacific DXing paradise for both Ultralight and SDR-DXers alike. If
anyone feels bored in their radio hobby, a quick trip to Kauai can provide the
permanent cure!
621 Radio Tuvalu Funafuti, Tuvalu, 5 kW The usual S9+ signal with female
speech in the island dialect at 0928 on 11-3, with drums pounding for emphasis
https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/5089jtrmpi5eajk330uwukvz4brqfoyk
630 VoV? Animated male-female speech in apparent Southeast Asian dialect
dominant over CNR synchros at 1523 on 11-4; Jari S. "guesses" this is
Vietnamese, but no chance at the time to check the 675-711 parallels
https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/k0ttlujgsp2p11817uhakkgrqwrzdlvj
675 VoV My Hao, Vietnam, 500 kW Female speech at very good level // 711 at
1637 on 11-7 https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/9sg4yp7lgfob6e5hw1wphlklnljbvwyq
675 Cheng Sheng BC Peikang, Taiwan, 5 kW Male-female call in talk program
in a Chinese dialect at 1655 on 11-7; Hiroyuki Okamura says this is Taiwanese
https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/aqd2vjmbcvofpsygksaqx4cqhc0nfbjf
693 Bangladesh Betar Dhaka, Bangladesh, 1000 kW The super power exotic
station finally broke through wicked 690-KHNR Honolulu splatter (10 kW at 113
miles) at 1639 on 11-8 with an apparent Islamic sermon (having mentions of
"Allah" at 27 and 31 seconds)
https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/haye98bfrypbt1cdb1wgma2mx01wskpx
702 BBC Arabic Service A'Seela, Oman, 800 kW One of the big surprises of
the DXpedition, this station was amazingly strong for the 8,586 mile (13,818
km) distance at 1604 on 11-6. Thanks to Mauno and Mika for the language and
station investigation
https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/cwgqhpm3hy0thmthw4o018i7c70y0b8i
702 VoV Danang, Vietnam, 50 kW Male and female speech at 1612 on 11-4
with announcers and format sounding very much like those on 675 and 711
(although not parallel); Jari L. says this is Vietnamese
https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/idw17ybpwsblr8evf440xnlr13z4l5c9
711 VoV Thoi Long, Vietnam, 500 kW Female speech at good level // 675 at
1529 on 11-6; this station often had co-channel issues with Korea and Taiwan
https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/j2vsyc02skttocssv3dxpxc6hknivx0s
720 UnID-TP Mystery Asian station (apparently not in any east Asian
language) mixing with the Chinese opera station at 1536 on 11-4; Mauno and Jari
S. mentioned VOIRI (Iran) as a possibility, but the Tajik and Uzbek languages
being broadcast around that time are tough to identify
https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/8l5utr5yxvybjzb2wrmaxvkoazuqmdf9
729 Myanma Radio Yangon, Myanmar, 100 kW Male-female speech in unique Asian
language with clear mention of "Myanmar" at the 46 second point at 1541 on 11-4
(thanks to Chuck for deciphering). Unfortunately 576 and 594 were wiped out by
Hawaii splatter https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/yq7uqray3bq93a6zu76kb92enk46wvq6
729 Myanma Radio? Fading up all alone at 1625 on 11-4, this male speaker's
language and voice sound a lot like the ones in the previous recording (thanks
to Bruce for language suggestion, and to Ken Alexander, a Canadian retiring in
Thailand, for the improved audio file)
https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/24c46lrjjm2329x4e1h634u3m7swn3f5
729 VoV Dong Hoi, Vietnam, 200 kW Male speaker in Viet-sounding language
at 1615 on 11-4 with apparent mentions of "Vietnam" at the 1 second and 32
second points; Jari L. says it sounds like Vietnamese
https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/9va1h709ki2cqyaz0z7eg380w2k8xmcr
800 PJB Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles, 440 kW Hijacking the 801 frequency
at 0921 on 11-3 with an S9 signal and "Transmundial" ID at 6 seconds, this
signal was typical of powerful North and South American stations that would mix
with the Asian and Pacific island stations each evening in a wild competition.
5.981 miles/ 9,627 km
https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/wiotqzpyghyinwl4o1f0c3vw2s1brtbw
864 HLKR-UnID Philippines The Korean big gun is in a wild S9 snarl with a
mystery Filipino station at 1539 on 11-3; this was a typical snarling Asian mix
very common in the salt-water-boosted Kauai propagation
https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/edbmedfei6kjn85jvs9k21lwe8d89cxn
918 ERTU Bawiti, Egypt, 10 kW Some awesome investigative work by Mauno
determined that this modest signal at 1628 on 11-6 was Egyptian Arabic-- one of
the biggest surprises of the trip (otherwise it would have remained an UnID).
Thanks for the extra effort! (8,921 miles/ 14,357 km)
https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/hhdwsw42ok5pcevh41amx9i7ln3cxmag
918 RNK Phnom Penh, Kampuchea, 200 kW One of the biggest stars of the
DXpedition, with S9-level Kampuchean pop music almost every morning around
1630, burying Shandong in the dust. This music was at 1655 on 11-3
https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/wciwhvoeqasvojbifrg8x4u54bm6qshq
Booming pop music at 1653 on 11-8
https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/yimn4viqpff60d85ek5cvt1yxe6d5orb
Burying Shandong at 1635 on 11-8
https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/geenpiko5i7rkohvdxwhfnbkavb928fe
Full National Anthem at 1700 sign off on 11-8
https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/wfcfv169exidtnlflx3g0ikag1xdg7ql
927 AIR Visakhapatnam, India, 100 kW India news in English by female
announcer at 1531 on 11-8 (mixing with China); with mentions of "also approved
Indian..." at 9 seconds and "for India to express" at 25 seconds. Thanks very
much to C.K. Raman of India for matching the recording to the AIR archives
https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/ozrw09zrlayks7nt3dxt95zeaibqmwd7
1440 Radio Kiribati Bairiki, Tarawa, 10 kW The usual female announcer
speaking the island language got a boost from semi-auroral conditions at 0845
on 11-6 to thunder over JOWF's Japanese female announcer
https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/cpgfb9jg414gez35y94k0aaghhh6ffcy
1575 Iranian Jammer Causing severe interference to VOA-Thailand's Bengali
program at 1620 on 11-8, the "official" target of this prolific Jammer is Radio
Farda in the U.A.E. The transmitter location is unknown, but likely distance to
Kauai is around 8,000 miles/ 12,875 km
https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/pn1iwgnxq3vzgf5tj9b2ek0pb6p14qg3
73 and Good DX,
Gary DeBock (DXing in Poipu, Kauai, Hawaii from November 3-8; DXpedition setup
photo at https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/w6ra0umwncy238cfzui8pqxetw8taare
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