Daytime AM bandscan from Ka Lae, Hawaii (the southern tip of the big island)

[gar hi]

This was done on the car radio.

The stations from Honolulu 212 miles away came in A LOT stronger than the stations in Hilo only 59 miles away!

I thought I had limited download space from the iPod, so I only did the scan from 530 to 1300 kHz.

Enjoy.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwz_3etSGJk


Stations I got .....

550 KNUI Maui
570 KUAI Kauai
590 KSSK Honolulu
650 KPRP Honolulu
670 KPUA Hilo
690 KHNR Honolulu
740 KCIK Maui
760 KGU Honolulu
830 KHVH Honolulu
850 KHLO Hilo
880 KHCM Honolulu
900 KMVI Maui
940 KKNE Honolulu
990 KIKI Honolulu
1040 KLHT Honolulu
1060 KIPA Hilo (had been silent)
1080 KWAI Honolulu
1110 KAOI Maui
1130 KPHI Honolulu
1210 KZOO Honolulu
1240 KEWE Maui
1270 KNDI Honolulu

 

[cyberdad]

Good stuff, Gar. Thanks

My stint living in Honolulu was the only time I ever got to the big island. Just a couple of days on the Kona coast (which for those unfamiliar is the west side of the island, on the other side of the massive volcano from Hilo). The Honolulu 1130, KLEI-1kw, was at that time located in Kailua on the other side of the very tall Koolau mountains. The upshot was that KLEI had a weak signal in Honolulu. And, it was the only Oahu signal that I recall as being missing from the Kona area. Otherwise, the Honolulu signals were all present....with the big ones sounding pretty much like locals.

Also...I'm guessing that the 1170 in Honolulu is silent. Actually, I think it's been silent for quite some time. It used to be KOHO, a Japanese-language station. 1kw which actually produced a fairly respectable signal, all things considered.

 

[gar hi]

I went to check out the FM band and it was virtually empty!

It was eerie.

I guess the mountains between there, Kona, and Hilo block the signals, though for some reason I got a strong signal from 100.3 KAPA from Hilo.

 

[radioman148]

Good stuff, Gar. Thanks

My stint living in Honolulu was the only time I ever got to the big island. Just a couple of days on the Kona coast (which for those unfamiliar is the west side of the island, on the other side of the massive volcano from Hilo). The Honolulu 1130, KLEI-1kw, was at that time located in Kailua on the other side of the very tall Koolau mountains. The upshot was that KLEI had a weak signal in Honolulu. And, it was the only Oahu signal that I recall as being missing from the Kona area. Otherwise, the Honolulu signals were all present....with the big ones sounding pretty much like locals.

Also...I'm guessing that the 1170 in Honolulu is silent. Actually, I think it's been silent for quite some time. It used to be KOHO, a Japanese-language station. 1kw which actually produced a fairly respectable signal, all things considered.

1170 in Honolulu is silent. When I was last on Oahu in 2010 I heard KFAQ from Tulsa at night. The signal was so good I heard it on my rental car radio.
Gar, if you haven't already logged it give it a try when DX season comes around.

 

[MarioMania]

I went to check out the FM band and it was virtually empty!

It was eerie.

I guess the mountains between there, Kona, and Hilo block the signals, though for some reason I got a strong signal from 100.3 KAPA from Hilo.

As in nothing is coming in at all?

I would go Bat Crazy

 

[Ai4i]

Stations I got .....

...and all are omni-directional (non-directional, single tower)
...and I do not believe any of them raise and lower their power as the sun rises and sets.

 

[gar hi]

And what I didn't realize at the time was that the strong station on 570 from the island of Kauai is only 1 kw non directional and 325 miles away!

For sure, my best long distance daytime AM catch for a lower power station.

 

[Ai4i]

An interesting fact is that stations at the low end of the band do not have too much groundwave advantage over stations higher on the band when the path is all or mostly sea water. A station at 1600 is not much worse off than one at 540.

 

[Icangelp]

gar.

Thanks for this thread. We go down to South Point every time we are on Hawaii. I've never Dx'ed down there.

Was it windy?

Were the kids jumping off the cliff into the water?

 

[Icangelp]

Also, did they ever get ALL the wind turbines running? I wonder if they are actually working.

It's an eerie sound.

 

[hm insulators]

And what I didn't realize at the time was that the strong station on 570 from the island of Kauai is only 1 kw non directional and 325 miles away!

For sure, my best long distance daytime AM catch for a lower power station.

So KUAI is no longer on 720? I remember living on Kauai many years ago, and there was KUAI-720 and KIVM-1350. KIVM moved down the dial to 570 and became KIPO.

 

[cyberdad]

There was a 1490 on Kauai...KTOH...during my high school year in Honolulu. 250 watts fulltime (ND, of course). I never heard it in Honolulu. Too many sticks near me, and the Koolau mountains also obstructing the path. Also a local on 1500 (KUMU). But I did hear it at night on my visit to the Kona coast. Fair signal and all alone. I was wondering if I'd hear graveyard stuff from the mainland underneath, but I did not.

 

[gar hi]

So KUAI is no longer on 720? I remember living on Kauai many years ago, and there was KUAI-720 and KIVM-1350. KIVM moved down the dial to 570 and became KIPO.

720 from Kauai is now listed as 'silent'.

Icangelp, it was so windy there it was not easy to stand.

I didn't go anywhere near the cliffs because the walk to get there was risky with a lot of big holes to fall in.

The windmills are still there but they didn't seem to be turning. We even passed by this one property where it looked like they had some windmill pieces being taken apart for scrap.