A new QSL and a new Country

Norfolk Island  5045kHz - Nick Hacko is broadcasting from Norfolk Island. He is VK9DX - what a call sign! He is using 300w maximum and is coming in well in Mangawhai. He has verified my report of this evening. That is a new country for me.

Hinahina Day 4

 All good things come to an end and so it is with this DXpedition, but not without a little excitement. Conditions were not great, but some unexpected stations still managed to poke through. Radio Zeta Uno in Guyaquil, Ecuador on 1400 was quite distinguishable and was confirmed via its web link. Radio Cristal also in Guyaquil was also another highlight on 870, once again confirmed by its web link. Radio Programas del Peru made a couple of appearances on 790 and 920. XEQ was the sole Mexican heard on 940.

Thanks to my good friend of very long standing (I was going to say old friend, but it could be misconstrued!) Steven Greenyer. He is a wonderful host, a good friend and an excellent DXer. 

Freq	Time	Details
760	0746	HAWAII, KGU on top with sports talk, but another stn was under and often alone with gentle easy listening mx. No idea what, though. 20/4 HHDX
790	0851	PERU, RPP Trujillo fair with good id. Then faded down. 20/4 HHDX
870	0610	ECUADOR, R Cristal fair at best with deep fades. Talk over trumpet mx. Swamped at times by Kiwis either side of freq. CWIS 20/4 HHDX
880	0520	PERU, R Unión, poor/ fair with YL speaking and mx. 17/4, much better 20/4 HHDX
920	0840	PERU, RPP, Piura poor/ fair, but only with brief peaks. Talk/ interview. Mixed with another mx prgm. 20/4 HHDX
940	0845	MEXICO, XEQ fair with deep fades playing Ranchera mx. Suffered bad splash from Kiwis. 20/4 HHDX
1160	0649	PERU, R Onda Cero fair at best with mx, but beaten up by 1161 on fades. 20/4 HHDX
1400	0525	ECUADOR, R Zeta Uno, fair at best, with regular fades. Religious message with light background mx. Dominant on freq. CWIS 20/4 HHDX

Hinahina Day 3

Day 3 was about getting out and about. Steven and I jumped in his car at 7.30 and headed 3 hours north to Central Otago - Queenstown and environs. I had a couple of wineries I needed to visit for work - they supply our shop. We added another for good meaure. We had lunch in Arrowtown, now alas over commercialised and spoiled by the tourists. For those who don't know it, Arrowtown is a heritage village dating back to the gold mining days in the 1860s.

I am focusing on this aspect of the day because the evening wasn't great.  The only South Americans to be heard were Peruvians with the addition of Radio Maria in Lima on 580. This was identified by the internet stream. The American stations had returned - no sign the evening before. The incoming signals from all of them were not strong enough to override the locals on the 9 kHz spacings as they had been on evening 2. 

Hinahina Day 2

 Day 2 belonged to the Peruvians. That is what we almost exclusively heard. The powerhouse La Mega 1470 kHz made an appearance at 0410 - 2 and a half hours before darkness. 

We heard the ones from the previous night but plenty of others as well, viz. del Pacifico 640, Victoria 780, Pachamama 850, Union 880, Panamericana 960, Cielo 1010, Bienestar 1360, La Mega 1470, Santa Rosa 1500, Bethel and Carraviz 1570. In addition there was a station on 1190 - possibly USGC in Guayaquil, although just as likely a Peruvian and another on 1520 playing Andean music. I couldn't get an id.

It was enticing stuff, if a little pedestrian for my host who has these before.

The loggings are:

Freq	Time	Details
640	0451	PERU, R del Pacifico fair with songs interspersed with brief axmnts from YL. ID at 0500 18/4 SMF
770	0605	COLOMBIA, RCN Bogota HJJX fair/ poor and mixed. CWIS 18/4 SMFH
780.093	0420	PERU, R Victoria, Lima weak, but much better later with Andean mx. CWIS 18/4 SMFH
850	0820	PERU, R Pachamama, Puno fair with fading, playing Andean mx with vocals. CWIS 18/4 SMFH
960	0706	PERU, R Panamericana fair at best with big fades playing SS pops. CWIS 18/4 SMFH
1010	0635	PERU, R Cielo with talk and religious message. CWIS 18/4 SMFH
1180	0520	USA, R Marti fair/ good with SS talk 18/4 SMFH
1500	0741	PERU, R Sta Rosa, Lima fair with mx. CWIS 18/4 SMF
1520	0736	UNKNOWN – possibly low powered Peruvian given we were hearing Peruvians. Playing Andean type mx. Axmnt at 0712 – couldn’t tell what was said. 18/4 SMFH
1570	0641	PERU – R Bethel and R Carraviz mixed. Bethel with mx and Carraviz with spoken items. Both fair at times and both CWIS. 18/4 SMFH

There were shortwave loggings as well. 

6105	0348	FRANCE, NHK RJ vg in JJ with talk and mx. 18/4 SMFH
6120	0350	AUSTRIA, AWR in Farsi to Iran – poor/ fair. Lots of talk. 18/4 SMFH
7275	0343	TURKEY, VoT good in EE with YL speaking. Quite clear. 18/4 SMFH
7315	0339	FRANCE, Free Press Unlimited –good in AA mentioning Sudan. 18/4 SMFH
7335	0342	USA, R Marti fair in SS or Castellano (sounded more like the latter… possibly) with talk. //7435 fair also. //6030 audible but hard to follow speech at this hour. 18/4 SMFH
11650	0401	MADAGASCAR, R Tazamuj excellent in AA with YL speaking. 18/4 SMFH
11815	0403	BRAZIL, R Brasil Central – fair in PP with pops. 18/4 SMFH
11825	0405	MADAGASCAR, African Pathways R fair with religious message. 18/4 SMFH
11995	0405	MADAGASCAR, BBC WS exc in Somali to East Africa. 18/4 SMFH
15320	2231	GUAM, AWR opening with EE axmnt for Javanese b/cast. Fair signal. 17/4 SMFH
15410	2235	AUSTRALIA, Reach Beyond Australia fair in JJ to Japan. 17/4 SMFH

Hinahina DXpedition

It has been a long time between DXpeditions, or indeed between listening bouts at home. My northeast (US) EWE is not working and I have been working 7 days a week for 3 months so have not had the time nor inclination to turn on the radio or fix the problem.

However, I flew down to Dunedin yesterday where I was met by Steven Greenyer. 60 minutes later we were at his holiday home on the shores of the Catlins Lake (read estuary). This is about 40 km south of Balclutha. A look at Google Maps will show you where we are. We are practically at the bottom south east corner of New Zealand.

This is the view from his living room this morning, looking east. 

Steven has 2 EWEs - one points pretty much east and the other south east towards deep South America. Conditons were not great last evening, but we did hear a little.

The interesting thing is that frequencies in NZ which block 10 kHz channels because of their splash are quite different up north (1,000 km away). Of course this is unsurprising, but when you are used to one thing and then encounter another it does come as a surprise. For example, 1420 is relatively clear up north, but not down here. Similarly 1570 and 1580.

Below is a list of what was heard last evening and this morning. There were various other frequencies that had signals on them, but we couldn't tell what they were.

640	0740	USA, KFI with Coast to Coast. Fair and on top of another. 17/4
840	0611	USA, KXNT poor with talk and mx. Offset of 840.013 matches the stn. 17/4
880	0520	PERU, R Union, poor/ fair with YL speaking and mx. 17/4
1010	0635	PERU, R Cielo (Tentative) with talk and religious message. CWIS 17/4
1190	0743	UNKNOWN – possibly USCG in Guyaquil. Playing western style songs. Fair on Sth American EWE. KEX dominant with C to C on Cent American EWE. 17/4
1360	0628	PERU, Bienestar fair with talk. 17/4
1470	0530	PERU, R La Mega v clear and strong with excellent id at 0530. 17/4
1640	0829	USA, KDIA fair/ good with old fashioned religious songs and mentions of Vallejo in talk after the song ended. 17/4
6080	0556	SAO TOME VOA fair with modern US pops. Female axer sounded British?! 17/4
17720	0835	SINGAPORE, BBC WS good in EE – DRM b/cast. 17/4
15320	2231	GUAM, AWR opening with EE axmnt for Javanese b/cast. Fair signal. 17/4
15410	2235	AUSTRALIA, Reach Beyond Australia fair in JJ to Japan. 17/4
9350	2251	USA, WNQM fair in EE. 17/4
9565	2253	USA, R Marti fair in SS via Greenville. Good id at 2254 17/4
9640	2256	CUBA, RHC poor in SS 17/4
9940	2300	USA, Leap of Faith ex Lebanon, TN. Intro in EE – poor/ fair but quite clear. 17/4