In the spirit of Blair Witch Project
- "The Rare DX Project"

February 25th-March 1st 2005

by Craig Edwards
"The late Crocodile DX Hunter - he is with us no more"

Many a tale has been told about the last century where in the 1970's and 1980's, a form of witchcraft known as DXcraft was practiced on the beaches of Queensland. DXers would often leave the bigger villages where everyone knew them to practice this dark magic in tiny coastal villages in order to remain anonymous.

Crocodile DX Hunter, last known photo taken before the Townsville DXpedition

This black art had its roots from the earliest days of DXcraft when DXers would dabble in magic as they twiddled their knobs in public to lure the loveliest of maidens in order to confirm them. It is written that this is where the term QSL was coined. It was an abbreviation for what the fathers would yell at them as they chased the DXers with pitchforks and burning torches in hand - "Queer Sicko's Leave!".

Needless to say many of the early DXers were run out of the villages during those barbaric DXhunts and that is why even today DXers hover on the fringes of regular society. So the practice of DXcraft had to be modified. They decided instead to twiddle a knob on a box in order to lure far off beautiful signals, only to be confirmed in the form of a "Queer Sicko's Leave" or "QSL" card. That is why even today we still refer to the old phrase of "country chasing" ...

The DXer would try to live in apparent harmony with the townsfolk on the coastal villages of Queensland, keeping secret their double life. This all changed when the DXers used their secret society parchment - the DX Club magazine - to conspire to form the most evil of anti-social behaviours - the DXpedition. Legend has it these creatures of the night would practise DXcraft in it's darkest form ... Mediumwave, arrrrrrrrgh!!!

The lone camper

Rumours would abound in the local tavern how small groups of DXers would congregate in secret caves or thatched huts on the beach. They would form a circle, each one of them hovering over their metal box making them glow bright orange and the boxes would literally come alive. Many a tale was told about the strange sounds and languages emanating from the night sky from where the DXers were believed to congregate. The sounds could only be described by the villagers as coming from the tongue of the devil himself.

It was written that one of these creatures once existed on the beaches north of Townsville. This beast conjured the evilest of powers to summon North American signals from the channel of the graveyard. This sacred ground was an eerie place of unmentionable reception, never to be dared heard again. No one from the village every saw this DXer in the wilderness. Although tales abound of near misses from a frightening array of copper pipe and wire traps. The townsfolk would never let their young women stray into the wilderness for fear of the DXers sordid past practices.

DX Headquarters - includes bedroom, living room and kitchen - pity about the outdoor bathroom and air conditioning situation

Modern day DXpeditioner Craig Edwards who lives in Townsville decided to retrace the practices of the DXer and document it for fellow radio enthusiasts. So why has it taken so long to report on this event? Tragically Craig never returned. Weeks after the ill fated attempt to trace his whereabouts, police stubbled upon the abandoned campsites where they recovered a digital camera, smashed tape recorder, cassette tapes, destroyed R75 and the remains of a tattered journal. The whereabouts of Craig Edwards is unknown for he has not been seen in Townsville since that fateful DXpedition. This account has been recompiled as this is the way he would have wanted it. This is Craig's story.

Journal entries - day 1

As an inexperienced radio enthusiast I began my interest in chasing and QSLing Australian mediumwave stations on my old Realistic DX100 and later National DR28. Little did I know at the time how crappy these rigs were, but I enjoyed my Aussie AM hobby. It wasn't until I joined a DX club and acquired a Kenwood R1000 that I realised you could hear other countries on the band. This was the early 80's, a time when as a teenager I would read in awe about the exciting adventures of the Queensland coast DXpeditions done by experienced DXers. Although I had DXpeditions on the Townsville coast the previous year in September 2004 and October 2004, these were more 'half DX' and 'half family' trips as my wife and dog were with me. This would be my first Townsville adventure where I'd be by myself and focus only on retracing the steps of the old time DXers, and better still I would be there for five days as opposed to the usual weekend trip.

Every morning around 20 of these jellyfish would wash up on the shore, ah…..that's why there was no one swimming at the beaches

Typically such an event is done with my old DXpedition partner in crime Dave Onley, but with him being so far away in Victoria, I had to do this trip on my own. So on the Friday morning I kissed my wife Michelle goodbye and gave my dog 'Padula' a bone and headed off. I went to a camping site which was virtually deserted because the weather was in the mid-30's and the tropical humidity was very high - after all we were still on the end of the wet season here in Townsville. Between October and February, everyone has their air-conditioners on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week - I'm serious! So needless to say camping in a tent was going to be uncomfortable. As I set things up, the wind off the ocean was strong and made erecting a 4 person dome tent by myself in the oppressive heat and humidity a bitch of a job. My swearing was probably enough to wake the dead.

Beverage wires out to North America across the sand wasn't an option as people walking along the beach may disturb them and the tide was coming in pretty close to the campsite. Going inland with unterminated wires and listening off the back of them (i.e. a wire strung out in the direction 270o inland, if unterminated, would be directional at 270o and 90o) could not be done either due to dangers of snakes and crocodiles this time of year. After the January rains the grasses were very high and ideal habitats for snakes. Being by myself the bite of a taipan or death adder while stringing out a wire in these conditions could be fatal.

Sitting in the tent and enjoying a few VB beers at midday while listening to NBC Port Moresby on 585

Furthermore the heavy rains meant the waters of the estuary were only 75m (250ft) from my tent and I'd have to cross waste high water where the crocodiles live to string the wire out. I decided that it was way too dangerous, especially how a few months back a hungry crocodile had entered a tent and taken a full grown man from a site north of here. On top of this, the number of Crocodile sightings in the Tropical North Coast of Queensland was quite high these past few months. So I decided to play it safe with 3 EWE antennae strung up on poles or appropriate tree branches around my tent. So after a few very hot and sweaty hours the campsite was finished and I could relax for a couple of hours before signals would start appearing.

On the first night signals started appearing from the South Pacific like Solomon Islands 945 & 1035, Marshall Islands 1098 and Tonga 1017 from around 0730 UTC or 530 pm local and the hets from the '0' channels started squirting out audio around 30 minutes later. There were a couple of other tents on the shores of the beach so to maintain privacy all the flaps of my tent were closed but the heat and humidity became simply unbearable, even with a small 12V DC fan and me fanning myself with a section of the NRC log! But I persisted. As the night wore on I tried keeping cool as best I could by going out on to the beach every 15 minutes or so and enjoying the very gentle breeze.

My sand shrine - the beers are sacrifices to the DX gods

On one occasion I noticed a bit of commotion and noise from the other campers only to discover they had decided to pack up and leave around 10pm. Something must have either spooked them off or the heat was too unbearable to camp there. It became very eerie shortly after as the breeze had died down to nothing, so I had to open all the flaps of the tent on the front and back just so I could get some airflow through the flyscreen mesh. The band had pretty much flattened out by 1400 UTC (midnight local) but I would keep waking up every 20 minutes or so to check for any west coast USA and Canada, Hawaii and Alaska as they went through their sunrise. I finally slept properly around 1800 UTC or 4am local time. This didn't last long as the morning sun blazed through the tent and woke me around 2100 UTC or 7am local.

Journal entries - day 2

The day was spent going through tapes and enjoying the breeze, albeit a hot one as I sat on the shore under the shade of palms and trees enjoying a few beers and taking time out to feel the moment. Its funny how we can get so busy fiddling with aerials, sleeping, going through tapes, writing the DXpedition journal and loggings, etc, that we forget to just - stop. It was simple bliss to sit on the beach with not a single person in site. So in my blissful state I decided to build a little DX sand shrine to bring me good fortune. The heat and abundance of jellyfish and tiny deadly irikanji stingers in the water this time of year meant that virtually no one - except the odd person on a motorcycle riding along the sand - was using the beach. Mind you, those tropical water nasties and the reef sharks meant I couldn't use the beautiful cool waters either - just one of mother natures great teases.

I ain't crossing these waters mate...

After an early dinner while listening to the local music show on Vanuatu 7260 and then NBC Port Moresby on 585, I checked out Pacific offerings, only to get Fiji 639 and Guam 801 in the log, which I've heard in the past here in Townsville. The band was pretty dead. Hets on the 10kHz splits were barely audible and WWVH on 2.5 MHz was only just above threshold. I tend to use this signal as a marker for when the North American AM band is about ready to explode. It was around 530pm local time when my attention was turned away from listening as I noticed a significant fall in temperature as thick black clouds started moving across the sky and the wind significantly picked up and blew all the loose papers around my tent like socks in a clothes drier. While a welcome relief, this along with the slight crackle every minute or so on 1590 kHz which I was sitting and waiting on, made me realise that trouble was on it's way. I went outside the tent and on to the shore. "Oh Shit" I said to myself, with an hour before we hit darkness, the thick black sky could be easily seen approaching and along with it, rumbling thunder and a mix of forked lightning bolts.

This certainly wasn't the worst storm I'd seen in Townsville, but it was the first one where I was on a beach by myself in a tent which was connected to a lot of metal zappy things. "Oh Shit" I said to myself again, is that an American accent I hear? I'd unplugged the headphones to listen to the lightning crackles as I watched the storm approach from beach. Sure enough, in came the signals on 1590 kHz - this was the start of the peak propagation time would usually only last about 1-2 hours. So I spent the next 2 minutes pretending I was on the DX game show 'The money or the box'.

...and this is why!!

Bob: "SO LET'S PLAY 'THE MONEY OR THE BOX!!!' Craig Edwards is a weirdo DXer, will he take the smart money by unplugging the antennae and hiding in the foetal position on the floor of his tent until the electrical storm blows over, or will he take the mystery prize IN THE BOX"

Craig: "Well Bob, I'm suffering sleep deprivation and heat stress, so I'm going to have to say 'What's in the box?'"

Bob: "Congratulations Craig, your prize is to nervously cringe over the radio and continue to listen as the storm passes over you. You'll experience minor ear explosions as the lighting strikes and sends a large crackle down the headphones because you'll have the volume turned up loud to hear far off stations in the USA."

Craig: "Thanks Bob"

Hmmmm, my mental state certainly wasn't at its best but the strength of some signals was enough incentive to take the risk. I had to close all the tent flaps as the rain had arrived too. The humidity was unbelievable. I was sweating so much my ass was aquaplaning off the seat like a car trying to brake on an icy road. As the storm passed overhead, I almost unplugged the antenna because one crack of thunder was so loud it scared the hell out of me and I almost slid off my seat. This ordeal lasted an hour as the storm was moving really fast. This allowed me to open up the tent again and let some air circulate to make DXing more bearable. I certainly dodged a bullet there.

DX tip number 1 - don't walk across the river to put out long wires

Later in the night I tried to get some sleep, but the storm had awoken a myriad of creepy crawly creatures. I also wondered if this activity in the area might raise the interest of the crocodiles. After many days and night of very hot conditions, this relatively cool evening coupled with all the creatures of the night being so active, might entice them to come out and hunt. Funny how your mind starts to work during the isolation and oppressive conditions of this kind of DXpedition. As I drifted off to sleep I would have nightmares about Crocodile's tearing through the side of the tent and attacking me and then I'd wake in a momentary panic, only to realise it was just a dream. I was so tired but it was so hot and uncomfortable it was very difficult to sleep.

Journal entries - day 3

On the next day, with only a handful of hours sleep so far over two nights, I decided that only on of the EWE's was really working well on a consistent basis and I wanted to consider other antenna possibilities. So I went exploring around the area to see if the trees could be used for an inconspicuous 100-150m (300-450ft) beverage but I kept running into the Crocodile's winding river system and my sleep deprivation started playing tricks with my mind as the movements of the creatures of the estuary had me jumping around thinking it might be a snake or something worse. The frustration of the heat and humidity made me lose my cool as I kicked the great circle map into the river during a fit of madness - man that was the most uncool thing I've ever done. Upon return to the tent I'd discovered the 'Townsville DX sand shrine' had been scrubbed out. Obviously one of the locals didn't appreciate DXers. They must have been watching me at the campsite as I only left the tent alone for around 30 minutes. Nothing in the tent was touched and I couldn't really see any obvious footprints. I'm getting a bad feeling about this place…….

DXer tip number 2 - don't walk under this trees with hundreds of bats in them unless you have an umbrella

The fact that everyone was avoiding this usually popular campsite became an ever increasing concern, I kept thinking what could be wrong with this place, was it Crocodile dangers, too many snakes, or maybe locals trying to scare off campers. Fortunately sunset soon came and I became fixated on the North American DX signals. Once the excitement of the sunset DX session started to settle down and the North Americans weren't as dominant on the band, I decided to take a break. As I stood outside the tent the campsite was very spooky. There I was in total darkness except for the orange glow of the Icom R75 screen. With little sleep, the oppressive heat and after straining my eyes under dim lights I started seeing strange silhouettes in the darkness and movements out of the corner of my eyes. The strong hot night winds and crashing of the waves meant I couldn't hear what I see, clouding common reason….. my senses started playing tricks on me…..I decided to go back to a familiar environment and pretend the sounds of the AM band and security of headphones and the view of the R75 front panel would keep me safe.

Later that night as I laid down to sleep, I questioned my faith. Why am I a DXer? Why do I go on DXpeditions? What's wrong with me? Why am I in the middle of nowhere, exposed to this environment? The sounds of the night were all around me. The screeching of the bats in the trees, rustling of fallen leaves from the movement of giant cane toads, lizards and maybe even snakes. Then there were the other sounds, the ones from the estuary river and swamp….. sounds that I couldn't explain. Lying in bed I would strain my ears, thinking that I could hear voices of strangers or even worse, the night hiss of the crocodile. This was enough to send anyone outside their mind.

Sensational Pacific Ocean sunrise

After finally drifting off to sleep I would start having nightmares again. There was the one where a snake had slithered into the tent and repeatedly attacked me but I'd be paralysed to move. But that was nothing compared to the nightmare I had around 5am. I was in my first deep sleep for days when the loudest scream I ever heard woke me up. I literally jumped out of bed, quickly unzipped the tent and ran onto the beach flashing my torch everywhere. The dream was so real it took my a few moments to realise it was only a nightmare. My heart was beating out of my chest and tingles ran through my body. Thank goodness I only had one more night of this. The lack of sleep, isolation, oppressive heat and humidity 24 hours a day was certainly taking its toll.

Journal entries - day 4

Same sunrise, 15 minutes later

As I finished off going through the last of the past few days' tapes I felt great satisfaction with the number of stations heard. It was late afternoon and it felt like my eyes were hanging out of my head with the lack of sleep and all the effort in going through the tapes in such heat and humidity. It was the final day of the DXpedition and I felt great relief that this trip is almost over. The excitement of the sunset period brought a few more entries to the log but later in the evening conditions weren't that great. I decided that it was time to put the headphones down around 1100 UTC or 9pm local time. In a total state of fatigue I collapsed onto the fold out bed and hoped to finally get some sleep.

A few hours later the strong winds of the beach were shaking the hell out of the tent and it woke me up. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on their end as I swear I could really hear voices in the distance. But there are no other campers in the area. I find myself sitting in the tent, deciding whether to go outside to investigate. I'm so tired. I don't know what to do.

No further journal entries recorded.

540 1735 unid. Suspect Western Samoa here judging by the favourable morning propagation to the Pacific but really can't be sure as there was no talk. Noted with lovely peaceful religious harmonies with local language & EE songs, signal always under 4QL though, only noted during talk from ABC

567 1730 KGUM Agana, Guam. Good despite 4JK, Coast to Coast promo, ads then into Dr Emily show

585 0700 NBC Port Moresby, PNG. Worth logging this for old times sake, audible during every hour of their broadcast schedule and rock solid signal from mid afternoon local time. Entertaining pop music show "Friday Drive" hosted by FA in EE at this time of day

612 1749 KUAM Agana, Guam. Presume the one here as has been heard on previous trips, fair at times but generally under 4QR, playing easy listening Pacific style music back to back

639 0905 FBC Lautoka, Fiji. Poor here with presumed Fijian talks and Island music under 4MS

680 0918 KNBR San Francisco, CA. Poor suffering with splatter from ABC NSW stations on 675 & 684, airing usual ESPN sports program

730 1013 CHMJ Vancouver, BC. Good with Mojo ID and NBA sports show

801 0910 KTWG Agana, Guam. Best ever reception of this one mixing equally with 4QY, playing US accented religious program in EE

830 1213 KHVH Honolulu, HI. Good on peaks with Coast to Coast

850 1049 KICY Nome, Alaska. Presume the one here in Russian but was poor and only hung around for a few minutes, nothing like the superb reception of this late last year

Tell my family I'm so sorry I became a DXer

870 0955 WWL New Orleans, LA. Fair on a nice peak but only noted once all trip with Roadside Radio News & ID on the hour

945 0750 SIBC Honiara, Solomon Islands. Good at times with love song program mixing with 4HI. Different program to 1035, then ID and news on the hour // 1035 & 5020

950 1002 KJR Seattle, WA. Poor here with very funny sports talkback

980 1254 KDBV Salinas, CA. Poor with male talks and lively music in SS

980 1208 KFWB Los Angeles, CA. Poor and mixing with KDBV, noted with political news talk

1010 0848 CBR Calgary, AB. Program by Radio Nederlands on world affairs at poor level

1017 0802 A3Z Nuku'alofa, Tonga. Fair here with non-stop news in local language by FA, buried a few minutes later by strengthening 2KY co-channel

1020 1112 KTNQ Los Angeles, CA. Animated talk in SS, at times the best TP on the band

1030 1213 KTWO Casper, WY. Fair here with usual Country & Western music format

1035 0725 SIBC Honiara, Solomon Islands. Fair hear stronger than co-channel 2ZB (only Kiwi heard during trip), airing "Radio Telethon for South East Asian Rehabilitation" in local language // 5020

1040 1704 KLHT Honolulu, HI. Good with full on religious talks

1040 0809 WHO Des Moines, IA. Poor here with splatter from 4WP 1044, noted here with Coast to Coast

1050 1415 KTCT San Mateo, CA. Good and still holding on at this late hour with FOX Sports

1060 0919 CKMX Calgary, AB. Poor here due to 4TI 1062 splatter, noted with NBA sports talk then canned ID

1070 0832 KNX Los Angeles, CA. Good signal with ID then into traffic report

1090 0752 KPTK Seattle, WA. Poor talk back show on Iraq then ID on the hour (ex KYCW)

1098 0810 V7AD Majuro, Marshall Islands. Poor here mixing with 4LG but clearly able to hear at times relaxing Pacific Island music, very nice to listen to this as I'd watch over the Pacific Ocean on the beach at local sunset

1100 0814 KFAX San Francisco CA. Fair here with religious feature program

1110 1420 KDIS Pasadena, CA. Fair with usual Radio Disney format

1110 0850 KFAB Omaha, NE. Fair at times here with Coast to Coast

1120 1005 KPNW Eugene, OR. Very good with ads, weather and ID

1130 0951 KSDO San Diego, CA. Easy listening tunes in SS then male with network ID

1130 0906 KRDU Dinuba, CA. Male and female with religious program mixing with others

1130 0900 WISN Milwaukee, WI. Tentative here with Coast to Coast mixing with KSDO and KRDU, no sign of CKWX

1140 0800 CHRB High River, AB. Poor with ID & Country/Easy listening music show

1140 0800 KHTK Sacramento, CA. Fair here with ID & sports program

1150 1148 KTLK Los Angeles, CA. Good here with traffic conditions, ID, ads & radio contest

1152 1805 FBC, Rakiraki, Fiji. Poor under dominant 2WG but on peaks could hear it // 639 with talks and exotic tunes in presumed Fijian

1160 0822 KSL Salt Lake City, UT. Talkback on Tsunami appeal funds distribution

1170 0910 KFAQ Tulsa, OK. Fair at times as 2CH had lots of fading, noted with ads, talk back from Coast to Coast

1180 0835 Radio Marti, Marathon, FL. Ordinary signal here with muddy audio heard in SS and suffering from apparent jammer. Also noted unid SS station underneath

1180 0920 KERI Wasco, CA. Fair here with Christian music show

1190 0831 KEX Portland, OR. Good here with morning weather and ID

1200 0807 WOAI San Antonio, TX Nothing like the usual powerhouse of old, instead this was an ordinary signal with Coast to Coast

1210 1650 KZOO Honolulu, HI. Poor signal but readable with Japanese music show

1220 0824 XEB, La B Grande, Mexico. Fair with romantic SS ballad music then MA in SS

1260 0820 unid. Poor but readable through 4MW. 4MW is like a local but they were relaying CAAMA radio Indigenous cricket tournament in Alice Springs and there was lots of pauses & 'dead air' during the commentary. This allowed reception of news talk program then ads - need to go thru tapes properly to try for ID

1270 1715 KNDI, Honolulu, HI. Poor in the mud as propagation to Hawaii began to quickly diminish (except for KUMU), noted with talk on life issues

1270 0801 KESS Fort Worth, TX. Tentative only, noted here in the 2SM mush with Mexicana music, but never peaked enough for any real detail

1280 1205 WFAU Gardiner, ME. Good here with ESPN program on NBA & NCAA basketball

1280 1231 unid. One of the religious format Californians here, either KUYL or KFRN, noted all weekend but could never get ID as WFAU was always dominant

1290 1140 KKDD San Bernardino, CA. Good on peaks with Radio Disney format over unid talkback format station

1300 1106 unid. I actually suspect a Mexican as this one had very similar propagation to the other Mexicans. Non-stop SS music and EE oldies and easy listening songs. Virtually no announcements and I spent a lot of time during the trip at TOH's with no luck. Only caught very few words in SS at 1300 on one night but as per usual this was during a fade!

1310 0945 KMKY Oakland, CA. Fair here with Radio Disney promo's and pop music

1310 1153 KTCK Sherman, TX. Poor here as KMKY always better, but noted with sports talkback

1320 0949 CHMB Vancouver, BC. Fair signal unusually in the clear with oriental music show and brief talk at top of hour

1350 0845 WTOU Akron, OH. Talkback show at fair and equal strength with 2LF and occasionally unid with SS music would pop up

1360 1038 unid. SS station here with brief male talk then ballad but quickly obliterated by 4WK 1359

1380 0910 KTKZ Sacramento, CA. Very good at times but lots of deep fades. Network pgm promos, canned ID (even though it sounded to me most times like KCJZ - must have been the heatstroke) and then pet show - of all things!

1390 1159 KLTX Long Beach, CA. Fair but mixing with KLOC, SS ID & full network ID in EE then back to usual non-stop SS tunes

1390 1144 KLOC Turlock, CA. Fair with SS religious talk mixing with the dominant KLTX

1400 1252 unid. Poor here with Asian format heard during the trip and audible at times which indicates it is from one of the West coast states

1400 1303 unid. Noted this station while sitting on the graveyard channel hoping for an ID from the Asian format broadcaster. Noted this unid on the West Coast with non-stop classical music format

1400 1130 unid. Suspect a Mexican here with non-stop Mexican like music but no announcements

1410 1240 CFUN Vancouver, Canada. Strangely not the dominant one on this channel during the DXpedition but always around with usual talk back over unid SS station

1420 1231 KKEA Honolulu, HI. Good strength but terrible splatter from 4AM 1422. Airing sports talkback and ESPN IDs

1430 0836 KYKN Keizer, OR. Poor here and suffering from heavy 1431 splatter. News talk focusing on Iraq then canned ID

1450 1350 unid. Tentative KSUH here with Asian format, but splatter from 2MG 1449 and graveyard channel rumble prevented any chance for ID

1460 1335 KRHA Honolulu, HI. Dominant one on this channel with easy listening EE and KK music with Korean talk

1460 0955 KABL Salinas, CA. Oldies music show & ID at top of hour, mixing with KRHA

1470 0745 KUTY Palmdale, CA. Fair with talk show over unid SS station, ID on the hour then news

1480 1201 KYOS Merced, CA. Good hear despite 4ZR 1476 splatter with ABC news

1480 1204 KVNR Santa Ana, CA. Poor with brief appearances noted throughout the trip with Asian format, noted in VV at this time

1490 1038 unid. Poor here with ESPN sports show. This frequency was like 1400 kHz, an interesting graveyard channel but no ID's

1490 0840 unid. Poor with Country & Western music format over unid with talk format

1490 1256 unid. Poor here and a different stn each night on this frequency. Noted here with lots of romantic SS ballads

1500 1226 KUMU Honolulu, HI. Very strong with loads of ads, ID and into health show talkback

1500 0817 KSTP St Paul, MN. Good here mixing with KUMU with ID and talkback

1510 1106 KGA Spokane WA. Good with ID trailing the news then into weather

1520 0900 KOKC Oklahoma City, OK. Good here over unid SS station, canned ID, ads & newstalk program

1520 0858 unid. Program with mix of SS talk and Mexican tunes, maybe KGDD but no ID, as usual on the hour up came KOKC.

1530 0830 KFBK Sacramento, CA. Fair with usual talk back and fighting it out with 2VM but would peak above amazingly enough at times

1540 1220 KREA Honolulu, HI. Fair hear with male talks in Korean

1540 0840 unid. under KREA mixing with Christian show

1540 0855 KXEL Waterloo, IA. Poor mixing with KREA with ads, ID then ABC news

1550 1330 KKAD Vancouver, WA. Fair at times despite 4QD splatter with oldies music show

1550 1340 KYCY San Francisco, CA. Tentative only, poor under 4QD splatter with news talk show but no ID

1560 0740 KNZR Bakersfield, CA. Poor with non-stop talk then canned ID

1570 0810 XERF La Poderosa, Mexico. First Mexican to fade in along with XEPE 1700 with typical ranchera tunes

1584 1900 T8AA Koror, Palau. Very good signal on peaks and mixing with 4CC translator. Plays interesting island tunes and contemporary songs sung by local artists. Occasional talk, not always on the hour though, noted every morning with fade outs as late as 2045, over an hour after sunrise!

1590 0812 KKZZ Ventura, CA. Good for a little while with canned ID & into EZL music show

1590 1046 KDAV Lubback, TX. Presume the one here with oldies music show

1590 1300 KLIV San Jose, CA. Poor overall signal from this one but happened to pop up on the channel with CNN news

1600 1020 KGST Fresno, CA. Fair signal here in SS with great Mexicana music & canned IDs before unid oldies music station took over

1600 1131 KVRI Blaine WA. Poor with usual Punjabi format

1640 1314 KDIA Vallejo, CA. Fair for a while with talkback on life issues

1650 1019 WHKT Portsmouth, VA. Fair signal as it took over the frequency for a little while with Radio Disney IDs and pop music countdown

1650 1325 KFOX Torrance, CA. Fair here with usual Korean format with non-stop female talk

1650 0929 KDNZ Cedar Falls, IA. Noted in big mix of stations with Coast to Coast, & promo for local sports

1660 0939 KXOL Brigham City, UT. Poor as KTIQ was so dominant this trip, noted with usual 60's music

1660 1047 KRZI Waco, TX. Poor under KTIQ with Sports show on Major League Baseball and ID on the hour

1660 1106 KTIQ Merced CA. The dominant one on this freq during the trip with entertaining SS tunes

1670 1040 KRNO Redding, CA. Poor mixing with KHPY, playing sports talk program

1670 1356 KHPY Moreno Valley, CA. Great music then IDs in SS and EE on the hour

1680 1015 KAVT Fresno, CA. Poor here with MA talks, ads & pop music in SS

1690 0815 KDDZ Arvada, CO. Poor as KFSG dominant, but OK on peaks with Radio Disney IDs and pop music

1690 1320 KFSG Roseville, CA. Fair here in SS with male talk in a period on West Coast sunrise which brought the X band alive for a little while

1700 0824 XEPE Tecate, Mexico. Excellent on peaks with their stupid music format, totally dominant on this channel, stronger than Brisbane on 1701!

Craig Edwards nutritionandsports@bigpond.com formerly of Townsville, Queensland.

Craig was using an Icom R75 and pre-amp both off 12V DC with 3 EWE's to North America, DX'ing from a tent on the shores of a beach north of Townsville during February 25th-March 1st 2005

Published on April 24, 2005