Radio listening in Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlottes)

By Walt Salmaniw

For the past few days (July 1-8, 2005), I've been on the Queen Charlotte Islands, also known as Haida Gwaii, on Canada's northern west coast. My wife Wanda is from Masset, and is of Haida heritage. In the early 80s, we lived here for two years. At that time, being a young doctor, I had neither the time, nor the experience to truly appreciate the value of radio reception possibilities here out in the Pacific Ocean.

I did have a 40 foot random wire and a Collins R-390A back in those days and recall hearing some pretty interesting DX. The Canadian military has known about radio conditions here as well. During the second world war, and after, the Canadian Navy established a listening post in the nearby saltwater slough. This site being a major migratory bird habitat caused increasing local opposition, so the site was transferred, first to a location about 3 km from town and perhaps 1km from the ocean (Dixon Entrance), and in the very early 1970s to the present location 5 km from town directly on the sand dunes overlooking Dixon Entrance. It is the site of the well-known Wullenweber antenna design with identical DF arrays located in various locations around the world, although a number of them have now been decommissioned.

When I was a young medical officer, there were 300 Canadian and US Navy personnel manning the listening post 24/7. About 10 years ago, the site became fully automated with the base closing leaving a skeleton staff of 7 technicians remaining to repair any problems that might arise. The monitoring staff is now located in Leitrim, Ontario close to the nation's capitol of Ottawa.

I have always been excited about the winter time possibilities of dxing virtually around the clock on medium wave. Being as far north as we are (above 54 deg N), the winter daylight is very short with the sun (if we see it at all) after 8:30 local, and setting by shortly after 3:00 PM. The sun doesn't rise more than about 20 degrees above the horizon, however. My suspicion is that there is MW possibilities around the clock, if auroral conditions allow. Last summer, Wanda and I finally bit the bullet and purchased 2.2 acres of waterfront property 13 km east of the town of Masset. This summer we have started construction of initially a 900 sq ft cedar post and beam home, and next year we may add an identical structure to serve as a garage/workshop as well as a fully furnished second story loft. Right now, we have a roomy but ancient fifth wheel parked in the southwest corner of the property. This week, we are adding power, and pouring the concrete for the foundation of the house and garage. The driveway was completed a month ago. Nothing is easy to accomplish on the Charlottes, and easily runs twice the "down south" price. Luckily Wanda is dealing with the day to day headaches of construction.

We've had a lot of great assistance with the planning from John Bryant, an accomplished architect, and builder of several homes, so his guidance has been most helpful. Wanda drove up with our Mazda truck packed to the rafters a week ago. Besides the toilet, bath, and sink, there was a little extra room for the other necessities... coax cable (several hundred feet), over 7000' of teflon coated antenna wire, numerous connectors, a complete electronic tool kit, multimeter, soldering iron, and of course, my most portable high grade communications receiver, the AOR 7030+ along with my primary DX laptop with computer control software (ERGO 4) for the AOR. Unfortunately, with the lack of power, the laptop has seen limited use due to the 2 hour battery capacity only (it's an older IBM Thinkpad). Instead, I've been taking notes, using a portable MD recorder, and using the computer only sporadically. I do miss having GeoClock, B-Log, ERGO 4, and the DBS and PAL databases running in the background. Can't wait until the power is hooked up, hopefully by later this week.

The first night on site (we're sleeping there, doing some site work during the day, and then spending a few hours daily at Wanda's parents' place in town. Here I can recharge the batteries, and transcribe my loggings to B-log, and do this sort of thing.), I erected a mini-Beverage measuring about 350 feet along the west boundary of our property, and oriented approximately north and south. This is not an ideal direction, especially during the summer, as 180 degrees points towards Pitcairn Is, while 0 degrees extends across European Russian, the Caspian Sea, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, and Madagascar. Perhaps in the deep of winter this bearing might produce results, but I wasn't optimistic this time of the year. Nonetheless, this morning I was able to hear Fiji, Australia, Tahiti, a Hawaiian, and several Alaskans on MW, as well as a good Indonesian opening, and excellent 120 meter Australian conditions. India on 60 meters was also audible. Not bad for a suboptimal mini-Beverage, in the middle of summer (with sunset not until after 22:00 local, and rising before 0500).

Today, I bushwacked another Beverage of similar length at approximately 80/260 degrees unterminated. The original antenna was moved slightly to 350/170 degrees, also unterminated. This should correspond to a beam toward Micronesia, PNG, and northern Australia, with the extreme eastern edge of Brazil on the back side (I may terminate this end). The original antenna will now point toward the Yukon, and then central Asia, without much off the backside. The adjacent uncleared properties are extremely difficult to traverse! There is very very thick Salal, which is virtually impossible to push your way through. It's usually about 5 to 7 feet high and very tangly. On top of this, there are many obstacles underfoot like stumps and fallen logs and branches. My bruised and scratched legs and arms can attest to this fact! With two mini-Beverages erected, Wanda is already grumbling about the esthetics of white wire. I've been thinking about several other options. One exciting possibility is to erect permanent Beverages across the road to the south of the property. This is forested land belonging to Naikoon Provincial Park.

I've toyed with the idea of several full length Beverages fed to a remote coax switching mechanism (such as the Ameritron RCS-10). Theproblem stems in how to get the single coax and 4 line 12 v power supply back to our cottage, a distance of perhaps 200 to 300 feet. The road is gravel. I'm hesitant to try and run the coax in the air beneath the power line, as this will immediately raise suspicions. There are no drainage pipes between the two sides of the road, unfortunately. Perhaps I could burrow down 8 inches or so and lay a 1 to 2" PVC pipe across the road, and then fill the trench. I'm not sure at all whether this is at all doable.

The pavement ends about 100 yards towards town. It might have been easily doable had the asphalt continued to our property. I'm sure I could have worked something out with the contractors. Oh, well. I don't see any signs of future road extensions. This would need to be an off-season project, as the road is fairly busy this time of year with tourists and campers. During the winter, there is very little traffic (I would think less than 2 or 3 vehicles per hour).

Yet another possibility is to abandon the Beverage plan, and consider smaller scale antennae such as EWE, Kaz, Pennant, or the K9AY. These should work reasonably well from long-wave, through the medium-waves to short wave. I know that I've been very pleased with the performance of my K9AY during the wet winter months, and that John Bryant and others have had good experiences with the Kaz/Flag and Pennant antennae. Also Patrick Martin in Oregon often reports his satisfaction with the EWE antenna. Points to ponder, in any case.

A bit of a travelogue to end this evening's musings. I've never seen as many eagles as I have here in Masset. Last night within 100 meters, I counted 24 eagles. It was nice to see that approximately half to two thirds were juvenile birds. Tonight after dinner, two adult bald eagles flew a window level towards us. I nearly jumped out of my seat, they were that close. The lead eagle had a salmon, or part of a salmon in it's talons. The second eagle must have been chasing the first. What a marvelous sight! Well I went outside with my digital camera, my wife's film camera, and a pair of binoculars to view the spectacle. Well I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw a fully mature, and probably rather elderly bald eagle in an alder tree in my in-law's backyard, no more than 20 or 30 feet away and 10 feet off the ground! I'm so used to seeing eagles on the highest perches of evergreen trees, but not this one! He (or rather she, in my estimation) was casually observing a spectacle above her. High up in an evergreen tree were three juvenile eagles. These birds are every bit as large as a full grown eagle, but lacks the white "bald" head. The middle eagle had it's wings extended, protecting it's turf. It had a salmon in it's talons, while two other juveniles on each side were attempting to get in on the action, but to no avail. They eventually left, leaving the victor to feast on the salmon, which was a lot of fun to watch through the binoculars.

Ravens and crows were busy picking up the pieces below, as morsels fell down from the higher perch. The older eagle observed all of this (which went on for about 90 minutes), and eventually also went on it's way. Life in paradise!

Well, that's all for tonight. I'm hoping everyone's summer is going well. I'll continue to fill you in as things develop! Here are the loggings:

Loggings

208 ALASKA OYN Nome, Alaska, Jul 3 0508 - Loop broadcast of this NDB at fair level stating that the pilot weather briefings are suspended until 1400Z (0600 local). Rare to hear these taped loops further south. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

393 ALASKA TOG Togiak, Ak, Jul 3 0511 - ATIS information from presumed Togiak, Ak at poor to fair level. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

580 ALASKA KRSA, Petersburg, Jul 5 06:02 - Local weather, followed by ID: 'Making a difference, KRSA'. Very good reception. Usually heard all day, at fair levels, better in the evenings, but with cochannel stations, but best during our local mornings with excellent reception in the clear. Mostly religious programming. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

580 ALASKA KRSA Petersburg, Jul 3 14:20 - Excellent reception with inspirational Christian music. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

630 ALASKA KJNO, Jul 3 14:00 - As the morning progresses, and the trans-Pacific stations, and mainland US stations fade, I started to listen for the more local Alaskans. First heard was KJNO from Juneau, with 'Capitol Radio' and KJNO IDs. Multiple ads for local businesses at 14:22 including one for 'the sweet sound of a chain saw'. 'Talk Radio KJNO' at 14:23:30. Good reception. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

650 ALASKA KENI, Anchorage, Jul 3 14:29 - ABC news Perspective program at 14:29. 'Newsradio 650, KENI' ID at 14:31 at fair reception. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

684 FIJI Radio Fiji 1, Jul 3 12:20 - Presumed logging with islands music with fair audio. First logging this morning using a hastily laid N/S mini-Beverage of 350' length. Not ideal, but a start. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

702 AUSTRALIA? 2BL, ABC Sydney., Jul 5 12:30 - Overall a very poor morning. Unfortunately, my new Australian Beverage is not working (the matching transformer had a loose connection). The 350/170 degree Beverage had to do. Not nearly as good as a couple of days ago. Yesterday morning I was unable to DX due to the batteries falling to about 7v...too low for the AOR 7030+ to operate. Weak audio with Australian accented dj, so a presumed logging. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

720 HAWAII, KUAUI KUAI, Jul 3 12:21 - Another presumed logging with Hawaiin music. Fair reception. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

738 FRENCH POLYNESIA RFO Papeete, Jul 5 12:33 - Strongest station on the MW band with French programming, but cochannel with a weaker station. Don't know who. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

738 TAHITI RFO Tahiti, Jul 3 12:15 - Good reception with French talk. Being closer to my N/S oriented Beverage, as expected, Papeete was heard at reasonably good strength. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

750 ALASKA KFQD, Anchorage, Jul 5 13:21 - Fair reception with ID as, '750 newsradio KFQD'. Public service announcements followed, and then an ad for Alaska Tire Service. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

770 ALASKA KINY, Jul 5 13:25 - S9+ signal with oldies music, and ID at 13:37 as, 'The music connection, KINY'. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

783 ?NEW ZEALAND 2YB Access Radio, Jul 5 12:37 - Tentative logging. Weak audio in English. Not sure who else this could be. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

790 ALASKA KCAM, Jul 5 16:42 - S6 to S7 signal strength with Country top 50 countdown. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

800 ALASKA KINY, Juneau, Jul 3 14:35 - Interesting relay of WXJ 25 Juneau weather radio with ID at 14:40. Continued until 13:44 with an ID as: 'The music connection, KINY'. Very good reception. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1008 AUSTRALIA 4TAB, Brisbane, Jul 3 12:25 - A tentative logging. Australian accented announcer with a call-in program. Fair reception. Brisbane stations tend to be well heard here on the west coast (at least in Grayland, WA), so I'm assuming the same here on the north coast of Canada. No ID heard. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1287 JAPAN JOHR, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Jul 5 12:40 - Good audio with Spanish music, which confused me for a moment, until a female dj came on with the usual sing-song Japanese accent. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1287 JAPAN, HOKKAIDO JOHR, Jul 3 12:33 - Presumed logging of HBC, Hokkaido Hoso with Japanese talk and music. Fair to good reception. As the crow flies, Hokkaido is not that far away from the Queen Charlottes, so good reception is expected. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1503 AUSTRALIA 2BS Gold, Bathurst NSW, Jul 3 12:38 - Tentative logging of an Australian accented male at poor to fair level. I suspect this is the most likely, although 3KND, Melbourne or NZ could still be possible, but less likely. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1610 USA (PRESUMED) TIS, Jul 5 13:10 - My most interesting logging for the morning. TIS stations aren't usually heard here, but this morning there was one for what sounded like: 'Whittier to Bear Valley Memorial Tunnel' Open 5:30 am to 11:15 pm. Propane restricted to 100 lbs. All vehicles under surveillance. Enforcement by local and state authorities. Thank you for driving carefully. Speed restricted to 25 mph. Can someone identify who this is? I don't have any TIS stations listed for Alaska, so I'm assuming a station in the lower 48. Help please!. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1683.21 AUSTRALIA Radio Club, Jul 3 12:43 - Presumed logging of Sydney (Lakemba), NSW with 400w. Listed as 24 hr Greek, although the music sounded somewhat Arabic/middle eastern. Weak audio. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1701.06 AUSTRALIA , Jul 3 12:44 - Two stations here. I always marvel at the strength of these flea-powered Aussies on this channel (and always slightly off frequency). When the rest of the band is dead, there often still is audio on this channel to North America. The dominant station is Radio 1701, Brisbane with Hindi music (listed as 100w) over cochannel probable NTC Radio 16, Silverwater, NSW with Australian accented English programming (this one I don't normally ever hear). (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

2310 AUSTRALIA VL8A Alice Springs, Jul 3 12:55 - Very good reception with usual ABC programming, parallel to slightly weaker 2325 VL8T Tennant Creek, and 2485 VL8K Katherine (the latter with a ute cochannel spoiling the frequency). (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

2959.96 INDONESIA RPDT Manggarai, Ruteng, Flores, Timor, Jul 3 12:55 - Fair to good reception of this reliable Indo with Indonesian talk. Always very impressive for 300w listed. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

3235 PAPUA AND NEW GUINEA Radio West New Britain, Jul 3 13:00 - S7 signal with EZL C&W music. No ID at the TOH. Female DJ at 13:02 was answering a listener's call: 'Hello?, hello?, hello?' I couldn't make the caller out at all. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

3249.55 KOREA (NORTH) Pyongyang Broadcasting Station, Jul 3 13:05 - Strident Korean OM and YL. Good reception, and parallel to much stronger 3320.17 and 6250.06 (which was also very strong except for a cochannel intermittent buzzing utility). (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

3325.02 INDONESIA RRI Palangkaraya, Borneo, Jul 3 13:10 - Presumed logging with Indonesian talk. Fair to good reception. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

3345 INDONESIA RRI Ternate, Moluccas, Jul 3 13:11 - Good reception with Indonesian talk by a YL. There was orchestral music and then a choral anthem (sure sounded like a NA), at 13:15 but then the YL came back on and continued on with the usual Indonesian muffly audio. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

3365 PAPUA AND NEW GUINEA Radio Milne Bay, Alotau, Jul 3 13:19 - Presumed logging with Afro-American vocals at fair to good level. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

3935.07 NEW ZEALAND ZLXA, Jul 3 12:50 - Much better heard here, than in recent years in Grayland or Victoria. Good reception with relay of National Radio discussing American involvement in Iraq. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

3976.05 INDONESIA RRI Pontianak, Borneo, Jul 3 13:24 - Very good reception with EZL Indonesian music. OM announcer accepted a call, mentioning 'program', and 'bye'. Then several 'hello', but with no answer. Pontianak mentioned at 13:31:20. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

4789.98 INDONESIA Radio Fak-Fak, West Papua, Jul 3 13:40 - Very good reception with a speech being carried with clapping with excellent audio, then back to the studio with the usual muffly audio. Then low modulation talk by OM with piano background. Spoiled by CODAR. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

4850 INDIA AIR Kohima, Jul 3 13:46 - Rather good reception, but nothing special, in presumed Hindi with talk by YL. 'Service' mentioned. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

648 AUSTRALIA 2NU Tamworth, NSW, Jul 6 12:30 - Fair reception with EZL music. Another poor morning. The Aussie Beverage is a disappointment due to noise, so all my loggings are using the almost N/S 350' mini-Beverage which appears to work very well and is very quiet. This is a tentative logging as no ID was heard. Another probable weak Aussie heard on 675. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

660 ALASKA KFAR, Fairbanks, Jul 6 13:32 - Poor signal strength, in the muck, but a couple of KFAR IDs clearly heard. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

680 ALASKA KBRW, Barrow, Jul 6 13:34 - Very weak, but in the clear with KBRW ID, and sports update. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

770 ALASKA KCHU, Valdez, Jul 6 14:34 - Presumed logging with NPR news. I found the Alaskans abundant after the fade out of Pacific stations, as well as the lower 48 states for the most part. Unfortunately, due to a family emergency, my planned 3 week stay is being cut short. Hopefully, I'll be able to monitor once more tomorrow morning. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

810 CANADA Unid, Jul 6 12:40 - I don't have my WRTH with me, so I'll need assistance identifying this one. Continuous Weather Canada forecast in English and French for various regions, including the South Klondikes, Central Yukon and Dawson. This continued past 13:01. Is this a Yukon station?. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

890 ALASKA KBBI, Homer, Jul 6 13:42 - Fair to good reception. ID for KBBI, Homer at 13:58. NPR programming, into local weather. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1080 ALASKA KUDO, Anchorage, Jul 6 13:19 - Good signal with an Ancorage jingle and ID for KUDO, and then into the weather. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1110 ALASKA KAGV, Big Lake, Jul 6 14:10 - A tentative logging at fair level. Christian programming, with 'Through the Bible Radio'. No definite ID, though. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1140 ALASKA KSLD, Soldotna, Jul 6 13:50 - Nice ID as, 'The king of the Kenai, 1140', and again at 14:02 as, 'You are on the King, KSLD, Kenai, Soldotna, and Homer'. Gone by 14:13, but back with good strength a few minutes later. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1229.97 ALASKA KIFW, Sitka., Jul 6 14:11 - Very good reception, but frustratingly few IDs. Bob and Laurie Morning Shjow. AM signal sounded a little distorted, so checked the frequency. They're actually on 1229.97. A weak cochannel right on frequency is also heard. Finally at 14:31, short ID for KIFW. Don't usually hear an American station off frequency. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

The best morning so far, totally dominated by Japan. Unfortunately this is my last logging from the Charlottes for the time being. We're leaving for the mainland at 23:00 tonight, and should be home in Victoria Saturday night.

180 RUSSIA Radio Rossii, Petropavlovsk, Jul 7 11:57 - A miuch better morning right from the start! Good signal levels from this channel. Most of the other Russian far east stations on LW are blocked by numerous aeronautical beacons. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

590 CANADA ?CFTK, Jul 7 04:50 - I've never noticed this before but 590 runs in parallel to 560. Both are strong here, with 560 being a bit more powerful. I never did hear any legal IDs, other than a generic ID as, 'Only one station plays your music, the Mix'. I wondered about a receiver image or spur, but this is not the case. 590 is a fraction of a second ahead of 560. When they break for ads, the two stations play different ads, and then resume the feed. I don't have my WRTH, so don't know the exact details. These two stations wipe out any possible Alaskans (KVOK, Kodiak and KHAR, Anchorage) unfortunately. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

693 JAPAN JOAB, Tokyo, Jul 7 11:59 - Three + one time pips at fair to good level with NHK2 programming. Parallel to 747 JOIB, Sapporo (poor/fair), and 774 JOUB, Akita (fair). (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

700 ALASKA KBYR, Anchorage, Jul 7 12:59 - Finally got an ID through some local hash, as 'Talk Radio, KBYR'. Good reception otherwise. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

770 ALASKA KCHU, Valdez, Jul 7 13:30 - NPR news at 13:30. No local ID at 14:00 and went into NPR news again. Finally ID'd for KCHU, Valdez at 14:49. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

837 JAPAN JOQK, Nigata, Jul 7 12:05 - Fair reception of NHK1 programming. Parallel to 891 JOHK, Sendai (fair). (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

954 JAPAN JOKR, Tokyo, Jul 7 12:10 - Strong reception of TBS, Tokyo with sports play by play. S6 to S7 strength. A totally dominant Japanese morning. This, down in Victoria and Grayland normally happens in the fall and winter. Whether this is just an occasional observation or a regular occurence remains to be seen. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

972 KOREA (SOUTH) HLCA, Jul 7 12:11 - Liberty one with Korean programming at poor to fair levels. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1008 NEW ZEALAND 1ZD, Tauranga, Jul 7 12:17 - The lone Kiwi station heard today, with good reception! Many IDs for 'Newstalk ZD'. They were interviewing the New Zealand PM about the London bombings. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1053 JAPAN JOAR, Nagoya, Jul 7 12:22 - Fair to good reception with Japanese ads by YLs. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1197 JAPAN NHK, Jul 7 12:30 - Good audio from one of the low power Japanese stations, with the usual sing-song delivery by very young sounding women. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1269 JAPAN HBC, Hokkaido, Jul 7 12:35 - Either JOHW or JOFM 1 or 5 kw, parallel to 50 kw 1287 JOHR from Sapporo (with good reception). (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1332 JAPAN JOSF, Nagoya, Jul 7 12:42 - Fair reception with Japanese talk by a man and woman. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1386 JAPAN NHK2, Jul 7 12:45 - Initially in slow English, with mention of Australia and New Zealand, but switched to Japanese, so presumably an NHK2 station with language lessons. Fair to good. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1440 JAPAN JOWF, Sapporo, Jul 7 12:47 - Strong reception in Japanese. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1503 JAPAN NHK1?, Jul 7 12:49 - A presumed logging with a radio play in Japanese. Good reception. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1566 KOREA (SOUTH) HLAZ, Jul 7 12:54 - Excellent reception this morning in Japanese. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1584 JAPAN NHK 1, Jul 7 12:57 - Very weak but parallel to 1503. Not sure of location of transmitter. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

4930 SAO TOME VOA, Jul 7 05:30 - Fair reception with English VOA programming, but lots of atmospheric static. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

- - - - - - - -

Update on July 22, 2005

Fellas, the first morning of the round the world virtual dxpedition is under my belt. Results were rather mediocre, in my opinion for MW, and more interesting on the Tropical bands. I did hear a few new Alaskans. I don't think there was anything new for me for Trans Pacific. I'll be looking forward to reading how the others fared, and I'm hoping that tomorrow will yield more interesting DX. Here's my catch. Incidently, I used 3 antenna (well really only 2 for MW: 2 mini-Beverages measuring 350 and 400' respectively, aimed 170/350 and 30/210 degrees.

Still using 12 volts, although the power should be hooked up very soon. The electrician was installing the panel in the power house. I hear that the telephone workers are striking, so no internet access that way for a while, I'm afraid. I'll be leaving early Sunday morning in any case back to Victoria. After DXing, I had a nice time clamming. There was a zero tide this morning, so I harvested some 20 pounds or so of Razor clams. These little creatures are fun to catch. You use a specialized short little shovel. Somewhat like a spade and walk along the flat sandy beach. You see small depressions which give away their location. By walking near them, they withdraw their siphons, occasionally squirting water upwards, but more usually just enlarging the depression. With one hand, the spade-like shovel is inserted about 6" from the depression and then angled toward the clam. The wedge of sand is quickly removed, and if you're lucky you can grab the siphon and pull the clam out. If not, you have to go down after them, sometimes almost to your armpit! They can measure up to a foot (30 cm) long, although most are about 8". The shells are very sharp if broken, hence the name. They make fabulous clam chowder, but also things like Clam Fritters....after cleaning them, the meat is pounded and then fried. Something like calamari as I recall, but it's been a while. Tomorrow, there's a negative tide, so after dxing, I'll go back out for Dungeness crab and razor clams again. Life is tough in paradise!

PS: I'm listening to an unid station on 840. Never IDs except "840 Gold". I'm assuming a Canadian, since they don't legally ID. Confirmation anyone?

180 RUSSIA Radio Rossii, Jul 21 12:18 - Poor to fair reception of this LW station. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

639 FIJI Radio Fiji 1, Jul 21 10:16 - Poor/fair reception with islands music. No // noted, but seems to be a regular hear. The morning did not shed much of interest in the early going, but did improve somewhat towards the morning. Overall, though, a relatively mediocre morning, and so I spent more time on the tropical bands. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

670 ALASKA KDLG, Dillingham, Jul 21 14:00 - Local ID, as well as for other low power NPR stations. Normally KBOI dominates this channel. Unfortunately, I had just fallen asleep 'at the wheel' and didn't notice the MD had run out. I'll try again tomorrow. The distant Alaskans seem to have a window in the morning after the TP stations have faded away, and before the lower 48 stations again dominate the airwaves. Interesting. I assume with the high sun and very long days of summer, the ionosphere does not favour a northerly propagation path to Alaska for long during the day. I'm assuming this will be the opposite in the winter. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

702 AUSTRALIA 2BL, ABC Sydney, Jul 21 12:25 - Fair reception with Australian accented dj. Mentions of Australia. One of the few Aussie station on this mediocre morning. The Tropical bands were much more interesting. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

747 JAPAN JOIB, Sapporo, Jul 21 12:26 - NHK2 English lesson. Fair reception, only. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

756 AUSTRALIA 3RN, Wangaratta, Jul 21 12:28 - 'Pilot program in Brisbane' mentioned, so presumed Aussie. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

765 UNIDENTIFIED ?, Jul 21 765 - Weak audio with non-stop talk that sounded Filipino to me. ?Possible Filipino station?. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

774 AUSTRALIA 3LO, ABC Melbourne, Jul 21 12:35 - Presumed, with 'Nice to see you', and Aussie accented talk. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

780 ALASKA KNOM, Nome, Jul 21 14:06 - Another new Alaskan for me, with ID, weather for Western Alaska. Fair. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

790 ALASKA KCAM,Glenallen, Jul 21 04:10 - Local ads and a local softball game, play by play. At 04:13, heard: 'Proud sponsor of Glenallen softball'. Good reception. At 04:59 Focus on the family program finished. No ID at the TOH, but did include a quick 'KCAM, Glenallen' at 05:01:30, and into USA network news. I tuned in again at 14:36 to hear Glenallen and Copper River Valley weather forecast (45 degrees and mostly sunny), and then onto weather for Anchorage, Valdez, 40 Mile Country, and Fairbanks. Time check for 6:39. No ID then. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

828 AUSTRALIA ?, Jul 21 12:39 - No ID, with English 'Eye witness reports'. Lots of splatter from 830. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

909 NEW ZEALAND Southern Star, Napier, Jul 21 12:41 - Poor to fair with a presumed logging with Gospel music. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1008 AUSTRALIA 4TAB, Brisbane, Jul 21 10:27 - Presumed station with only weak audio. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1008 NEW ZEALAND 1ZD, Jul 21 12:42 - Call in programming, but not nearly as clear as the other day's logging. Could also be possibly 4TAB, Brisbane as well. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1053 KOREA (SOUTH) Jammer, Jul 21 12:48 - Machine type jamming heard without any other station. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1143 NEW ZEALAND 1YW, National Radio Hamilton, Jul 21 12:52 - Fair and steady. Heard 'a whole range of recommendations', and 'Citizens of New Zealand'. Health care was the topic. Faded out just before the TOH. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1170 ALASKA KJNP, North Pole, Jul 21 14:29:30 - Another new one for me, with the weather for North Pole: 'Here in North Pole, 47 degrees'. No call sign heard, though. Fair. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1242 JAPAN JOLF, NBS, Tokyo, Jul 21 13:03 - Fair reception with usual Japanese programming. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1260 USA KLYC, McMinnville, OR, Jul 21 10:35 - Local ID for KLYC. Not bad for a 1 kw station. Local programming too. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1287 JAPAN JOHR, Sapporo, Jul 21 13:04 - Strong signal with usual sing-song YL/OM discussion. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1566 KOREA (SOUTH) HLAZ, Jul 21 13:10 - Strong signal with Japanese Christian broadcast. Still fair at 13:21, well after local sunrise. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1737 PAPUA NEW GUINEA KUT (Beacon), Jul 21 10:42 - weakly heard at this time. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

2310 AUSTRALIA VL8A, Alice Springs, Jul 21 10:44 - Very good reception with cricket play by play. Parallel to weaker 2325 VL8T, and 2485 VL8K (with it's characteristic humm). (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

2850 KOREA (NORTH) KCBS, Pyongyang, Jul 21 10:47 - Good to very good reception with a Korean play. Not the usual martial style for a change. Parallels heard include: 3220 (with cochannel), 3350 (loud buzz), 3959.73 (fair), and 9665.50 (buzz). (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

3235 PAPUA NEW GUINEA Radio West New Britain, Jul 21 10:52 - Not many PNGs on the air this morning. Good reception with local choir. Note that the 2 Christian stations are only poorly propagating..ie 4960 and 7120, with the later only being present as a het. Did they move frequencies already, as they had planned? Possibly Wantok Radio Light adjusted their NVIS antenna to reduce propagation further afield. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

3255 SOUTH AFRICA BBCWS, Jul 21 04:18 - BBCWS in English with a radio play. Fair reception via Meyerton. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

3279.54 ECUADOR La Voz del Napo, Jul 21 10:55 - Good reception with Spanish programming. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

3290 PAPUA NEW GUINEA Radio Central, Boroko, Jul 21 10:56 - Good signal level, but mostly used USB to avoid an intermittent ute on LSB. Local vocals, and Pidgin talk. S7 signal. No TOH ID, but switched to the National news at 11:02. At 11:54, there was a time check for 6 minutes to 11:00. Later USB had a Russian fisherman net. At 12:01, Central province was mentioned as well as '3290 kHz in the 90 meter band', and signing off until '12:00 tomorrow afternoon'. Then the PNG anthem, and off at 12:03. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

4604.96 INDONESIA RRI Serui, Jul 21 12:04 - RRI news, with reports from the field. Mentioned Bandeh Aceh. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

4753.45 UNIDENTIFIED ?, Jul 21 04:23 - I have no idea who is on this off frequency at this time in AM mode. Weak but in the clear. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

4775 SWAZILAND TWR, Jul 21 04:15 - Good reception with German religious broadcast. I'm back on the Charlottes for four days. This time, I erected 3 antennae: My original mini-Beverage at 350 degrees and terminated at the north end, 30/210 unterminated 400' miniBeverage, and a 120' random wire at 70/250 degrees. I noted the latter was often best on the tropical bands. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

4890 GABON RFI, Jul 21 04:31 - French programming but barely audible. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

4930 SAO TOME VOA, Jul 21 04:32 - Good signal with VOA English programming. Strongest station on the band. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

4965 ZAMBIA Christian Voice, Jul 21 04:33 - Fair reception and marred by summer static. American sounding religous programming in English. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

5019.89 SOLOMON ISLANDS SIBC, Honiara, Jul 21 10:03 - Pidgin news, with mentions of Honiara, Prime minister, national parliament. ID for SIBC, Honiara at 10:07:30. Voice of Salvation also mentioned at 10:13. Always a real pleasure to listen to them!. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

5025 CUBA Radio Rebelde, Jul 21 04:34 - Not on the air when first checked at this time, but present at a weak level at 10:00 with Buenos dias, and mentions of North America and Cubano. Must be using either a back up transmitter or antenna system. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

7390 RUSSIA Golos Rossii, Jul 21 12:15 - Russian Orthodox programming with a S9 + 10 signal, and then a Russian religious ballad. Still have to get used to hearing religion from the state broadcaster in Russia! Transmitter is in Vladivostok, so accounts for the phenomenol strength. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

11965 ASCENSION IS. Star Radio, Monrovia, Jul 21 21:23 - ID as, 'You are listening to Star Radio from Monrovia on the FM and the shortwave'. S6 signal and in the clear. Easy to follow English. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

Update on July 23, 2005

Well another morning has passed, and conditions were MUCH superior to yesterday's for sure! I began dxing a bit later at just before 11:00 UTC and immediately found the bands to be alive. Most split frequencies had good hets on them. The big difference was the value of my short 120' random wire running very close to E/W. This was the best wire for many split frequencies, mostly because of the attenuation of North American signals, allowing for the numerous TP signals to propagate. That short length of wire provided excellent dx right up until sunrise at which time the ambient noise on that antenna rendered it useless for MW. This is in stark contrast to yesterday when that antenna was next to useless except on SW. My number 1 big puzzle (please help!) is 1575, which generally was stronger than the usually stronger 1566 HLAZ. I tuned in 1575 just before 13:00 to hear: "National Anthem", followed by a short possibly an anthem. Faded down quickly, but thought I heard "Armed forces" as well. Could this be one of the Japanese AFN stations? Generally I heard reasonably good signals from all over the Pacific, without any one region dominating. Perhaps Japan was best if I had to pick.

At 7:30 local, my father-in-law picked me up and we went off to the beach at Tow Hill to go after more Dungeness Crab, and Razor clams. I had slipped on my wet suit while dxing (a feat in itself!). Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate to yield anything substantive. On my first crack at the Crabs, I was able to wade out to chest depth and easily see the large male crabs on the bottom. This time, the weather was gorgeous...warm and sunny, but there was a Northerly wind resulting in big swells and crashing waves churning the sandy bottom and making it very difficult to see. I ended up with only 5 medium sized male Dungeness crab, and after some time of not seeing a single large crab, I gave up and headed to shore to dig clams.

I had a bit more luck quickly filling a bucket with good sized Razor clams. As the name suggests, the broken shells are very sharp. There were a number of expert Haida clam diggers. Somehow, they're able to use their shovel, and quickly grab the siphon before the clam retracts it. The clam itself is usually about 2 feet or 60 cm under the surface. As for me, out of the bucket, I was successful two or three times to grab the siphon. The rest of the time, I'd dig down with my hands and by feel, I'd slowly pull up the clam. The siphon although retracted, is still just reachable, with perhaps 1/2'" or 2 cm still showing. Once the siphon is pinched, you carefully lift the clam. I'd never make a living at this, but after some 45 minutes I did fill the bucket with some nice large clams. The very best of the clam diggers can harvest several hundred pounds per low tide, compared to my 20 pounds or so.

Tomorrow will be my last chance if the weather cooperates, that is. If the wind dies down or swings around from the south, then I'll likely try things again. If not, I'll probably pass and concentrate on dxing Alaska a little longer in the morning. I was just listening to KFBX Fairbanks on 970.

More on my house construction. As always on the Charlottes, nothing is easy or straight forward. At this stage, we have our power shed, a 6 by 10 foot structure or so on a concrete pad. It must be within 100' of a power pole, or they'll put in a power post at a cost of several thousand dollars. Needless to say, we built the shed. It'll be useful for small storage, and power access for things outside. It's about 40 feet from our home. The power will go to the house underground for aesthetics, and I can't help thinking that radio-wise it will be better too. The electrician was here yesterday adding a 200 amp panel to the shed. Now BC Hydro, our power authority can deliver the power line to the shed, once the permit is issued. Next week, I suspect. Then, we'll have power!

Speaking of power, though, there are some concerns regarding electronics. The Charlottes power is primarily derived from diesel generators, compared to 99% of the rest of the province which is hydro (dam) generated. We have no nuclear power plants, nor coal or gas burning plants in BC. With frequent outages (often caused unfortunately by birds shorting the lines), voltage spikes are inevitable. Will the electronics be protected with regular surge protectors, or better yet line conditioners? If not, how can I reduce or eliminate the risk of damage, short of running everything on 12v only.

The concrete forms were poured last week. They still have to pour a skim coat for the crawl space (3') and add the stub walls, on which will sit the wood structure itself. Everything was looking just fine on Wednesday when I arrived again, but I noticed the contractor pulling them apart again! Evidently, he measured one last time and noted the wall to be 1 1/2" off. The fellow measuring, forgot to take into account the width of the plywood forms, i.e. 2 time 3/4". If he hadn't checked thinks simply would not have fitted. Better that he found the mistake when it was relatively correctable! The rest of the concrete will be poured any day now. We have the septic system all laid out on the east end of the property.

The well should have been dug a while ago, but the only well person on the islands had his drilling rig vandalized and it's out of commission for a month or two. We're now looking for alternatives, including hiring an off-island company from Terrace, B.C. We grappled with the depth of the well. Wanda had thought artesian was the way to go, down up to 275'. However, the brave few who have (at GREAT expense too!) have found the water to be smelling of sulfur and not at all palatable. The table is only some 10 feet down. We'll likely compromise and descend 30 or 40' to ensure good quality water. The fresh water here is very dark, as it meander through the muskeg, presumably from the tannin in the water? I wonder how on earth the fish can see anything in the rivers! By digging a little deeper, I'm hoping to avoid this discolouration, and prevent surface water contamination from run-off. There are a lot of black-tailed deer on the islands, as well as black bear, and assorted rodents.

Yabo, our enterprising young man who has completed the shell of the post and beam red and yellow cedar construction will also be erecting the building on site, as well as finishing it to wrap-up stage hopefully before the fall monsoons. He began transporting the lumbar today to our site. The various materials required to erect the structure, and add the floors and walls were ordered Monday from Prince Rupert on the mainland, and should be delivered by late next week. Transportation costs to the islands have added another 15 to 20% to our already rapidly escalating costs. Ouch! Well we can't stop now. I'm just looking forward to our end result and all the fun I'll be having dxing.
I've considered the antenna issue again. Wanda won't tolerate easily visible wires obstructing her views. The wire I have in ample supply is a white teflon coated multistrand wire, identical to that used at Grayland, WA. I had purchased many miles of the stuff and various other odds and ends including coax, ground cable, etc, all for about $35 at a government auction. No choice on wire colour. Sorry Wanda!

While exploring yesterday our neighboring properties, I realized that the lot on the east may be an ideal place to conceal some wires. EWE, Kaz, or Pennants could very easily be put on that property, and fed with a short length of coax back to our home. Furthermore, I suspect some mini-Beverages up to 400' in length could also be run. Having traversed the site, it would be a very difficult property to develop, so I'm hoping it will remain "dormant" for many years to come. Of course if it is developed, then I'm back to some of my earlier plans to erect antennae across the road to the south of the property, for example. Furthermore, with many tall Spruce trees on the property, one could erect some traditional antennae such as dipoles and delta loops, and have them high enough that they wouldn't be noticed, at least not by Wanda!

To end this segment of my DX adventures, here are some loggings from last night and this morning. I'm taking part in a world-wide virtual coastal dxpedition, linking dxers from the United States, Canada, Scandinavia, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, and perhaps elsewhere. I'll be eager to read their loggings! Here they are:

180 RUSSIA Radio Rossii, Jul 22 10:59 - A much better morning with a much superior signal. Maybe I should have arisen earlier!. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

530 ALASKA ADK, Adak, Jul 22 11:52 - First time heard here (although regularly heard in Grayland, WA). Fair to good with ADK in Morse. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

612 AUSTRALIA 4QR, ABC Brisbane, Jul 22 11:55 - Australian talk show, with the 'Australian point of view', on Iraq and Australian involvement. 'ABC' at 11:58, then faded out. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

650 ALASKA KENI, Anchorage, Jul 22 13:02 - Looking for KHNR, Honolulu but instead heard this Alaskan. Good with a weaker co-channel. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

670 ALASKA KDLG, Dillingham, Jul 22 03:57 - Good reception of 'The World Cafe' well over the usual cochannel KBOI, but as is so often the case, presumed KDLG faded down just at the top of the hour, so no definite ID this time. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

670 HAWAII KPUA, Hilo, Jul 22 13:00 - What a difference a day makes. Yesterday it was Dillingham, AK on this frequency at this time. Today, ID for this Hawaiian instead at good level. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

693 JAPAN JOAB, Tokyo, Jul 22 12:00 - NHK2. 3 + 1 time pips. Strong signal, with 'NHK, Let's learn together', then same in Japanese. Konichewa. 'Hello listeners. I hope you're studying hard this week. OK, let's get started.'. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

702 JAPAN JOKD Kitami, Hokkaido, Jul 22 12:02 - NHK2 with 10 kw. Several cochannels, but did catch 'Number 5', as part of the English lessons. Also can here likely 2BL Sydney. 'ABC news heard at 12:05, and 'ABC Sydney. 5 minutes away from....', and into play by play sports, with 'Australia leading'. The NHK2 English lessons were also heard on two commonly heard stations home in Victoria on 747 and 774, both very strong here. 'Did you bring the tickets? I just wanted to make sure'. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

760 HAWAII KGU, Honolulu, Jul 22 13:09 - 'You are listening to Back to the Bible: Your questions, God's answers'. I'm thinking this is most likely the Hawaiian. Good reception. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

792 AUSTRALIA 4RN, Brisbane, Jul 22 12:10 - EZL music, then English. Assuming this to be ABC National, Brisbane. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

870 CANADA CFBV, Smithers, Jul 22 14:19 - One of the local stations heard hear at armchair level, with local ads. Wonder how far out this one is heard? Patrick Martin, I'm sure you've heard and verified this one!. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

890 ALASKA KBBI, Homer, Jul 22 14:21 - Time check for 6:21 and local Homer ads. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

891 AUSTRALIA 5AN Adelaide? and 4TAB Innisfail?, Jul 22 12:15 - 2 cochannel Australian accented stations. Sports scores at 12:17. My guess is that I'm listening to both of these Australian stations. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

900 HAWAII KNUI, Kahalui, Jul 22 12:20 - One of my favourite stations when vacationing on Maui. Lovely Hawaiian music well over local station, but faded out before any definite ID, and Victoria's 'Village 900' became dominant. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

970 ALASKA KFBX, Fairbanks, Jul 22 14:22 - Time check for Fairbanks, and local job opportunities. Poor with lots of atmospheric noise. Local programming. Not bad for 5 kw in the morning, with the sun high in the sky! Heard again the following evening at 03:57 with more local ads, and mentions of Fairbanks, but as frequently happens, it seems, it faded away just before the TOH, so no ID, but back up at 04:01. My luck!. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1035 NEW ZEALAND 2ZB, Wellington, Jul 22 12:30 - Good reception, with a call in program giving a 0800 phone number, but faded very rapidly. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1116 AUSTRALIA 4BC, Brisbane, Jul 22 11:02 - Two cochannel stations heard here, one in English, presumably Brisbane, and a Japanese language station. Best on my near E/W 120' random length of wire, over the 2 Beverages available to me!. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1134 JAPAN JOQR, Tokyo, Jul 22 12:38 - Fair reception with Japanese talk, and many 'Hai's' heard. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1170 ALASKA KJNP, North Pole, Jul 22 13:59:50 - Good strong signal, over a weaker co-channel with 'You are tuned to 1-1-7-0, KJNP North Pole Alaska'. I had to look up on GeoClock where North Pole was. Clearly no where close to the actual or magnetic pole, so why the name?. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1242 JAPAN JOLF, Tokyo, Jul 22 12:41 - Presumed logging with Japanese talk. 'Tokyo' mentioned. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1242 JAPAN JOLF, Tokyo, Jul 22 11:17 - Weakly audible in Japanese. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1269 JAPAN JOFM or JOHW, Hokkaido, Jul 22 11:20 - Good reception of this Hokkaido based Japanese station, and the strongest TP I've heard yet today. Parallel to JOHR, Sapporo on 1287, also at good strength. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1287 JAPAN JOHR, Sapporo, Jul 22 12:43 - Good reception. 'Hokkaido' mentioned, as well as 'HBC Radio' (at least it sounded like this to me!). (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1296 NEW ZEALAND 1ZH, Hamilton, Jul 22 12:46 - Only 2.5 kw, with 'Newstalk ZB', and email and 0800 phone number given. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1503 AUSTRALIA 2BS Gold, Bathurst, Jul 22 12:51 - English programming, and a guess on my part. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1503 AUSTRALIA 2BS Gold, Bathurst, NSW., Jul 22 11:40 - Initially a strong het and weak audio, but improved. Played oldies (western), so not Radio Sport. I'm assuming then, 2BS. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1575 UNKNOWN unid, Jul 22 12:55 - Fascinating. I just tuned to this frequency, and immediately heard in English, 'National Anthem', and into a possible short NA. Faded rapidly, but not before I thought I heard 'Armed Forces'. Who could this be? Ideas please? AFN from Japan??. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

3235 PAPUA NEW GUINEA Radio West New Britain, Jul 22 13:29 - S6 to S7 signal, with the usual very enjoyable PNG programming, with a real local flavour. Announcements at 13:38. Off sometime by the TOH. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

3279.58 ECUADOR La Voz del Napo, Jul 23 0534 - Rosary programming in Spanish, and then into modern Spanish vocals. I'm listening as I was typing last night's loggings. Good reception except for atmospheric noise...the bain of summer listening!. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

3325 INDONESIA RRI Palangkaraya, Jul 22 14:02 - Good modulation and relatively slow speech in Bahasa Indonesia with many mentions of Palangkaraya, so likely a local program. Not parallel to 3345 Ternate. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

3340 HONDURAS HRMI, Jul 22 04:21 - Presumed logging with impassioned preaching, but too weak to be sure whether it was in English or Spanish. The tropical bands tonight are much weaker compared to last night. SF 73, A index 24, and K (at 03) 3. Minor GM storms measuring G1 (I think). Nothing expected for the next 24 hours according to WWV. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

3344.96 INDONESIA RRI Ternate, Jul 22 13:40 - Parallel to 3325 Palangkaraya with a sports play by play. Lots of mentions of Bali, Pontianak, Kalimantan, and Gorantalo. Great reception on both. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

4753.41 ?BRAZIL Radio Educacao Rural, Campo Grande, Jul 22 04:27 - This is my guess for my unid. of last night, and still here today. I listened for a while, and it appears to be in Portuguese, hence my guess. Any verification from out there?. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

5025 CUBA Radio Rebelde, Jul 22 04:35 - Rebelde is back with a much stronger signal than last night, but still suffering from slop, from a very messy transmitter on 5030.07 (University Network, Costa Rica with Dr. Gene Scott rambling from beyond the grave!). (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

Update on July 24, 2005

Well, another night and morning of dxing here on the Queen Charlotte
Islands. Reception was not great on MW, at least initially and was totally dominated by Japan. One abbreviated session tomorrow morning, and I'll be heading back to Victoria. Here are my results:

209 etc ALASKA Aviation Beacons, Jul 23 10:59 - An interesting sideline to dxing here on the Charlottes is listening for Aviation beacons, and especially those that have voice transmissions which I never hear in Victoria. This morning I was able to hear six different transmissions. My database appears to be woefully out of date, so I'll need to search more up to date sources. Help finding these would be appreciated. On 209 kHz, the following was heard: 'The transcribed aviation weather forecast is suspended.' I have OYN, Nome listed on 208. Will need further research. Furthermore, I also heard the same message on 260 kHz. My sources do not list any Alaskan on 260. The closest is RL, Riboo WA and EU Frank, Eugene OR. More study is needed. Aviation weather for Alaska was heard on 277 kHz. Weather for Kodiak Island, Bristol Bay, Cook Inlet, etc. I have ACE Kachemak, Homer AK listed. 355, also has the same aviation weather. Nothing listed on 355, but 356 lists HHM Hotham, Kotzebue, AK, FOX, Fox AK, and GRP Granite Point, AK. More research again needed! 394 is listed as RWO Woody Is., Kodiak, AK. They mention that, 'pilot weather reports are requested'. Included weather for Dutch Harbor, Eastern Bering Sea, the Aleutians, and the Gulf of Alaska. Finally, 411 was heard well with aviation weather. Nothing listed in my databases, but 412 lists FXW Farewell Lake, AK. Included weather for Dillingham, Kodiak (temperature on 13 deg F....Brrr!). (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

670 ALASKA KDLG, Dillingham, Jul 23 11:59 - ID for KDLG, Dillingham and into the BBCWS. Good reception. My first pass on the 9 kHz channels was dismal, without a single audio heard! Finally the first audio was hear on 693 (see below). (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

684 FIJI Radio Fiji 1, Jul 23 12:41 - Fair reception with Fijian talk by OM/YL. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

693 JAPAN JOAB, Tokyo, Jul 23 12:09 - Finally audio, although weakly with NHK 2 and English lessons. Parallel stations heard include 747 JOIB, Sapporo at good level, 774 JOUB, Akita. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

738 TAHITI RFO Tahiti, Jul 23 12:48 - Good reception with French talk, and then music. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

774 AUSTRALIA 3LO, Melbourne, Jul 23 12:11 - Initially in English with play by play, which I assume is ABC Melbourne, 3LO, but then NHK2 JOUB, Akita became dominant with English lesson. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

828 JAPAN JOBB, Osaka, Jul 23 12:13 - Another NHK2 station with English lesson. Fair reception. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

850 ALASKA KICY, Nome, Jul 23 14:50 - Probable reception with religious songs 'He has the whole world in his hand', etc. Poor with major splatter from CBC 860. No ID heard, however. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

970 ALASKA KFBX, Fairbanks, Jul 23 13:47 - Finally heard an ID at poor to fair level as, '970 News radio KFBX'. Then, 'do your part to keep Alaska's wildlife wild'. I've now heard and ID'd about 3/4 of the Alaskan MW stations. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1134 JAPAN JOKR, Tokyo, Jul 23 12:18 - Japanese programming at fair level. 100 kw. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1152 JAPAN JOPC Kushiro, Hokkaido, Jul 23 12:19 - Another NHK2 in English at poor to fair levels. At dawn enhancement there were many strong hets this morning. After a dismal start, they were welcome!. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1179 JAPAN JOOR, Osaka, Jul 23 12:20 - Japanese talk at fair level. 100 kw listed. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1188 JAPAN JOKP Kitami, Hokkaido, Jul 23 12:21 - Good reception apart from some splatter, with a Japanese game show? 10 kw listed. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1197 JAPAN Unknown, Jul 23 12:21 - Japanese graveyard frequency with numerous low powered stations listed. Good reception. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1242 JAPAN JOLF, Tokyo, Jul 23 12:48 - Weak reception with Japanese talk by YL. 100 kw listed. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1269 JAPAN JOHW or JOFM, Jul 23 12:49 - Weak Japanese speech by YL. Listed as either JOHW (5kw) or JOFM (1 kw), both in Hokkaido. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1287 JAPAN JOHR, Sapporo, Jul 23 12:23 - Female talk by a female dj, and into a modern Japanese vocal. A regular every morning. At 12:50 good to very good reception with the same dj, and then into a jazzy vocal. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1386 JAPAN ?unknown, Jul 23 12:26 - Weak NHK2. There are several listed. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1404 JAPAN JOQL Kushiro, Hokkaido, Jul 23 12:28 - Poor to fair reception, with music then Japanese talk. 5 kw listed on this probable logging. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1413 JAPAN JOIF, Fukuoka, Jul 23 12:51 - Fair talk by OM in Japanese. Listed at 50 kw. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1422 JAPAN JORF, Yokohama, Jul 23 12:29 - Japanese talk by a YL. I'm assuming this to be Yokohama with 50 kw. Fair reception. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1548 AUSTRALIA 4QD, Emerald, Jul 23 12:32 - Good reception with 'ABC Radio' heard. Listed as 50 kw. Continued good reception when rechecked at 13:01. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1557 ?AUSTRALIA ?NEW ZEALAND ?2ZH, Havera or 2RE, Taree, Jul 23 13:05 - Not sure which English speaker this station represents. Play by play sports program. Either Aussie 2RE Coastal Radio Taree, NSW with 2 kw, or 2ZH Havera, NZ also 2 kw. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

1566 KOREA HLAZ, Jul 23 12:34 - Only fair to good reception of this regular, along with another cochannel station. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

2310 AUSTRALIA VL8A, Alice Springs, Jul 23 13:21 - Superb reception with Cricket play by play. Parallel 2325 equally excellent from Tennant Creek (VL8T), whereas 2485 Katherine VL8K is good. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

3235 PAPUA NEW GUINEA Radio West New Britain, Jul 23 13:28 - Good to very good reception with greetings reading long lists of names. No other regional stations were on at this time. 4890 on with excellent reception, and CRN 4960 only poorly herd, and 7120 Wantok Radio light, also poor. Interesting that at 14:00, there was a time check for 4:00 (I think), then dear air, and a major drop in signal level to fair only. Did they change transmitter or antenna at that time? I've never noticed this drop before. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

4604.95 INDONESIA RRI Serui, Jul 23 14:29 - Beautiful reception with Indonesian EZL music. Male DJ answering phone-in calls, with 'hello'. Still strong at 14:38. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

4925 INDONESIA RRI Jambi, Jul 23 14:13 - Good reception with very pleasant Indonesian music. Well after my local sunrise, but still going strong. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

4960 PAPUA NEW GUINEA Catholic Radio Network, Jul 23 14:02 - Reception now fair to good, compared to a half hour ago. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

Update on July 25, 2005

Well, this morning was slightly abbreviated as my Father-in-law picked me up at 06:45 local, and I had to be totally packed by then. Again, Japan practically had the entire MW band to themselves yet again. I will be very interested in ascertaining whether this is a local phenomenon characteristic for the Charlottes, or more an issue of propagation conditions in general. I did have some fun hearing many more aeronautical voice LW beacons. I do need a better database, though. Today's beacon logs will have to be identified later as I left my list in my luggage (I'm typing this sitting in YVR, Vancouver airport waiting for my connecting flight to Victoria). Again I was pleased with my short random wire running close to due E/W (120' or so). If this antenna continues to perform in it's very quiet manner, basically nulling many of the lower 48 stations that spoil much of the Beverage antenna characteristics here, then I'll very likely erect one across my property near the sand dunes, and run it across the property to my east to achieve a "mini-Beverage" length. Assuming this property remains undeveloped (I hope so!), it will be an ideal site to conceal the bulk of my antennae without the problems of having to cross the road to reach the large land parcel to my south which had been my original plan. I have to admit a bit of disappointment in primarily hearing mostly Japanese stations. Not knowing the language, and finding the programming rather dull didn't really thrill me. I do hope that other more exotic dx will be in the cards in the future. Here are my loggings, including a single interesting Time signal logging from last night.

RUSSIA 9996, 04:17-, RWM Jul 24 Another offshoot to regular SW dxing. Noted an unmodulated signal on 9996 so I offset to 9996.2 to hear in LSB (or use CW). Double pips from the 9th to the 14th second. Data transfer started at 04:20 until 04:24:55, and then again from 04:25:00 to 04:29:55. A steady carrier tone from 04:30 until 04:37:55, and then RWM repeated over and over again in Morse from 04:38 until 04:40, and then back into regular unmodulated time pips. CW mode works well to listen to them. Excellent level. Transmitter, I think is in Moscow. I wonder how to demodulate the data stream. Didn't sound like any mode I've heard before. Any ideas?. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

ALASKA 920, 10:59-, KSRM, Soldotna Jul 24 Another new Alaskan for me, with ID as, 'KSRM, now in our 38th year'. Fair to good with a few weak cochannels. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

RUSSIA 180, 11:13-, Golos Rossii Jul 24 Probably the best I've heard them these past 4 mornings, with Russian religious talk. Not quite armchair, but a very decent signal. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

ALASKA 245 etc, 11:15-, Aerobeacons Jul 24 I don't have my database with me for LW aerobeacons, but I heard quite a few more voice Aerobeacons. Here's the list: 245: 'Transcribed aviation weather broadcast is suspended'. Fair. 251: Aviation weather for Bethel, Kodiak, etc. 338: Aviation weather for Valdez Harbor field, Valdez city (missing), Cordova, etc. 371: Aviation weather, and synopsis for the Western Aleutians, Central Gulf coast, Kodiac Is, Bristol Bay, etc. poor. 379: Area forecast for Kodiak Is. Good. With 6 yesterday, and 5 today that's 11 total. I've only heard 2 or 3 of these services in the past. I'm not 100% sure that they're all in Alaska but I suspect so. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC) Now that I'm home, here is some updated information, courtesy of the excellent www.navaid.com website. All up to date and clears up any confusion. I am referring to both of my aerobeacon loggings:

I don't have my database with me for LW aerobeacons, but I heard quite a few more voice Aerobeacons. Here's the list: 245: 'Transcribed aviation weather broadcast is suspended'. Listed as HNS Haines, AK Fair.Location 59.21N/135.43W. 251: Aviation weather for Bethel, Kodiak, etc. Listed as OSE Oscarville Bethel, AK. Location 60.79N/161.87W. 338: Aviation weather for Valdez Harbor field, Valdez city (missing), Cordova, etc. Listed as CMQ Campbell Lake, Anchorage AK. Located at 61.17N/150.05W. 371: Aviation weather, and synopsis for the Western Aleutians, Central Gulf coast, Kodiac Is, Bristol Bay, etc. poor. Listed as PDN Port Heiden, AK. Located at 56.95N/158.65W. 379: Area forecast for Kodiak Is. Good. Listed as IWW Wildwood Kenai, AK. Location: 60.60N/151.21W. Alternatively could also be AHT Amchitka, AK located at 51.38N/179.26W. With 6 yesterday, and 5 today that's 11 total. I've only heard 2 or 3 of these services in the past. I'm not 100% sure that they're all in Alaska but I suspect so. I added this information upon arriving home:

An interesting sideline to dxing here on the Charlottes is listening for Aviation beacons, and especially those that have voice transmissions which I never hear in Victoria. This morning I was able to hear six different transmissions. My database appears to be woefully out of date, so I'll need to search more up to date sources. Help finding these would be appreciated. On 209 kHz, the following was heard: 'The transcribed aviation weather forecast is suspended.' I have OYN, Nome listed on 208. Will need further research. I checked the excellent site at www.airnav.com and 209 is listed as CYT Yakataga, AK at 60.09N 142.49W, but they don't indicate any voice. Furthermore, I also heard the same message on 260 kHz. My sources do not list any Alaskan on 260. The closest is RL, Riboo WA and EU Frank, Eugene OR. More study is needed. Airnav.com lists ESS Wessels NDB at Middleton Is, AK. Location 59.42N/146.34W. Aviation weather for Alaska was heard on 277 kHz. Weather for Kodiak Island, Bristol Bay, Cook Inlet, etc. I have ACE Kachemak, Homer AK listed. Location 59.64N, 151.50W. 355, also has the same aviation weather. Nothing listed on 355, but 356 lists HHM Hotham, Kotzebue, AK, FOX, Fox AK, and GRP Granite Point, AK. More research again needed! AirNav.com lists Saldo NDB at King Salmon, AK. Location 58.74N, 156.78W. 394 is listed as RWO Woody Is., Kodiak, AK. Confirmed. Located at 57.77N, 152.32W. They mention that, 'pilot weather reports are requested'. Included weather for Dutch Harbor, Eastern Bering Sea, the Aleutians, and the Gulf of Alaska. Finally, 411 was heard well with aviation weather. Nothing listed in my databases, but 412 lists FXW Farewell Lake, AK. Included weather for Dillingham, Kodiak (temperature on 13 deg F....Brrr!). ILI Iliamna, AK. Located at 59.75N/154.91W. Come to think of it, I wonder if US aviation weather uses degrees Celsius?

NEW ZEALAND 1053, 11:34-, 2YP, New Plymouth Jul 24 Weak audio in English, with 'You're looking for...'. I'm presuming NZ. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

JAPAN 828, 11:41-, JOBB, Osaka Jul 24 Good reception with talk in Japanese by YL. Parallel to JOIB, Sapporo and 774 JOUB, Akita at poor to fair level. I rechecked 774 at 12:09. At that time it was very strong. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

JAPAN 1053, 11:48-, JOAR, Nagoya Jul 24 Japanese sports play by play, I think. Fair to good, at 50 kw listed. I rechecked at 12:11 at which time reception was fair to good. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

JAPAN 1134, 11:50-, JOQR, Tokyo Jul 24 I believe this is Tokyo with Japanese talk at fair to good levels. I could not totally discount the possibility of the Korean, KBS Liberty 1, however. I rechecked at 12:12. Good level then. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

JAPAN 1152, 11:53-, JOPC, Kushiro Jul 24 Probably Kushiro, Hokkaido with Japanese talk by YL. Fair level. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

JAPAN 1179, 11:55-, JOOR, Osaka Jul 24 Strongest Japanese up to that point. Good level with Japanese talk by OM, with many 'Hai's' heard. 50 kw listed power. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

JAPAN 1188, 11:56-, JOKP, Kitami Jul 24 This 10 kw Hokkaido station is the likely one heard at fair level, with a male and female dj chatting. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

JAPAN 1197, 11:57-, unid. Jul 24 Impossible to figure this frequency out as it's a Japanese graveyard channel. Poor to fair level with music, then Japanese talk. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

JAPAN 1242, 11:59-, JOLF, Tokyo Jul 24 Japanese talk at fair level, and into an ad. 100 kw listed power. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

JAPAN 1278, 11:59-, JOFR, Fukuoka Jul 24 Fair level with Japanese talk by YL. 50 kw listed. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

JAPAN 1287, 12:00-, JOHR, Sapporo Jul 24 Consistently one of the strongest Japanese stations heard on the Charlottes. Strong signal with Japanese OM. Ad noted at 12:14 recheck. 50 kw listed. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

JAPAN 1332, 12:00-, JOSF, Nagoya Jul 24 Fair to good reception of this 50 kw station. Japanese talk by OM. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

JAPAN 1386, 12:00-, NHK2 Jul 24 Take your pick of 4 NHK2 stations on this frequency, all at 10 kw. Fanfare, 3 + 1 time pips. Fair strength. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

JAPAN 1413, 12:01-, JOIF, Fukuoka Jul 24 Good reception with Japanese talk by YL. 50 kw listed. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

JAPAN 1503, 12:02-, JOUK, Akita Jul 24 A low powered NHK1 transmitter. My guess is Akita with 10 kw. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

JAPAN 1593, 12:04-, JOTB, Matsue or JOQB, Nigata Jul 24 Not sure which, as both are NHK2 transmitters at 10 kw. Good levels but suffering from splatter. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

PAPUA NEW GUINEA 1737, 12:08-, KUT Jul 24 Beacon station heard only weakly today. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

JAPAN 1314, 12:15-, JOUF, Osaka Jul 24 Weak,though in the clear. 50 kw listed strength. Usual Japanese talk. Why do Japanese stations play very little music, at least in the mornings. All I kept hearing was talk! A bit on the boring side, especially if my Japanese is not that great. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

JAPAN 1404, 12:18-, JOQL, Kushiro Jul 24 Fair reception with female vocal. I'm thinking this Hokkaido station is the most likely. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

JAPAN 1422, 12:19-, JORF, Yokohama Jul 24 Good reception with Japanese talk by OM. 50 kw listed. Nice signal!. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

JAPAN 1440, 12:21-, JOWF, Sapporo Jul 24 Reminds me that it's worthwhile to check the 10 kHz channels. This 50 kw Hokkaido station was well over any North American cochannels. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

JAPAN 1449, 12:21-, JOQM, Abashiri Jul 24 5 kw listed for another Hokkaido station. Weak Japanese talk. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

UNKNOWN 1575, 12:46-, unid Jul 24 I'm puzzled by this frequency. There was a weakly heard station on this frequency. Never strong enough to positively ID. I'm sure it's not the VOA. I've heard them from home frequently, and this doesn't sound that official. If I stayed on the Charlottes, I'd make it a point to monitor it every morning. Recall I heard some unusual English here the other morning. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)

HAWAII 830, 12:59-, KHVH, Honolulu Jul 24 ID for 'Newsradio KHVH 830, Honolulu'. Good reception. I was trying for the Alaskan KSDP, Sandpoint. I did hear NPR programming earlier in the hour, so I'm thinking it was them. No sign of them now. (Salmaniw, Tow Hill, Queen Charlotte Is, BC)