Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Gary DeBock, who shares the following notes from his Cook Islands Ultralight DXpedition:
Cook Islands (Aitutaki) Ultralight DXpedition from April 8-13
A gorgeous environment, with thrilling long range DX! Ruth and I took this trip as the 38th anniversary of out first meeting at Victoria Peak in Hong Kong (April 10, 1980).
DXing highlights were the reception of 693-Bangladesh, 918-Cambodia and 1431-Mongolia on the 7.5 inch loopstick C.Crane Skywave SSB Ultralight and 5 inch “Frequent Flyer” FSL antenna (designed to provide inductive coupling gain equal to that of a 4 foot air core box loop, but in a much more compact size).
693-Bangladesh 1652 UTC April 10 (mention of Bangladesh at 8 second point; thanks to Chuck Hutton for listening):
Download: 693-Bangladesh-1652z041018CCSWANR
918-Cambodia 1659 UTC April 12 (Khmer female speech, National Anthem with “Cuckoo Clock” time pips at 1:41; thanks to Hiroyuki Okamura for listening):
Download: 918-Cambodia-1659z041218CCSWANR
1431-Mongolia 1631 UTC April 11 (BBC Korean service interval signal at 46 seconds; thanks to Hiroyuki Okamura for listening):
Download: 1431-Mongolia-1631z041118CCSW
Location: Tamanu Beach Resort ocean shore, Aitutaki, Cook Islands (in the South Pacific)
Amazing catches, Gary–thank you for sharing! It seems your modified CC Skywave SSB is serving you well. Looks like you were chasing amazing DX from an amazing part of our planet!
well, 918 is also interfered with DXRS RMN Surigao.
The Cook Islands is a wonderful country to visit for DXing! My wife, Jan, and I went there to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary back in 2006 and have a fabulous time. Aitutaki is a 30-min flight from Rarotonga, being one of the smaller islands and well worth checking out. Without Jan knowing, I smuggled a small radio into my luggage and did several evening DX sessions on MW where the US and Pacific stations romped in, and also did a little SW monitoring. When we visited back in ’06, noise levels were exceedingly low….I hope that environment remains the same now. I would love to go back there for a longer dedicated DXpedition. I expect that the Latins would also be very well heard from that location. Cook Islands is a tiny country with a population of only 18,600 spread over a number of island communities. Highly recommended!
Great–the Cook Islands have been on my bucket list for several years. Might have to bump it up closer to the top!
And, Rob, did Jan ever wise up to your DX sessions or did you sneak outside under the cover of darkness? 🙂
Well, Thomas……if you go the the Cooks, then it’s only another 8hrs flying time to Melbourne! It would be silly to go all that way to Raro and not visit Australia as well (cough, cough!) 😉
Indeed! Just a hop, skip and jump away!