Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Gary DeBock, who shares the following notes from his Cook Islands Ultralight DXpedition:
Sunset on the Cook Islands
Aitutaki Sunset DX
Aitutaki in the Cook Islands had some dazzling sunsets, and [my wife] loved to take sunset pictures with her new phone. Of course, I participated as well. As a result, sunset DXing was pretty rare while on the trip, although 7 USA mainland stations crashed the Kiwi sunset skip DXing sessions later in the evening around 0700 UTC. None of the usual Vancouver-Seattle-Portland-San Francisco TP-DXing pest stations made it to the South Pacific, though– and I didn’t miss them a bit!
610 KEAR San Francisco, California (5 kW at 4,610 miles/ 7,419 km) “Family Radio for the West Coast,” Christian religious format received at fair level at 0835 UTC on 4-12:
640 KFI Los Angeles, California (50 kW at 4,570 miles/ 7,355 km) Strong (S9) level with commercial ads at 0633 UTC on 4-12:
1070 KNX Los Angeles, California (50 kW at 4.570 miles/ 7,355 km) Powerful (S7) level with “1070 Newsradio” ID at 3 seconds, followed by national news at 0730 UTC on 4-10:
1160 KSL Salt Lake City, Utah (50 kw at 5,144 miles/ 8,278 km) Powerful (S7) level with weather and station ID at 33 seconds, followed by public service ads at 0901 UTC on 4-12:
1170 KFAQ Tulsa, Oklahoma (50 kW at 5,642 miles/ 9,080 km) Strong signal over apparent DU English co-channel with “Coast-to-Coast” ID at 44 seconds; thanks to Richard Allen for confirming the broadcast of the program on the station at 0845 UTC on 4-12:
1430 KMRB San Gabriel, California (9.8 kW at 4,577 miles/ 7,366 km) Cantonese Chinese format at S7 level with commercial ads at 0830 UTC on 4-12:
1640 KDIA Vallejo, California (10 kW at 4,633 miles/ 7,456 km) “1640-KDIA” ID at 6 seconds with Christian religious format at S5 level at 0807 UTC on 4-10:
Thank you for sharing, Gary! Your enthusiasm for MW DX is infectious!