NDB's Australia/Pacific March 2019

[Looking-Glass]

Some loggings over the past week and a half heard this way:

1429z  326KHz  ESP   Esperance, Western Australia 2,619kms 519 report.
1425z  366KHz  SF     Springfield, New Zealand 2,207kms 519 report.
1403z  383KHz  WLU  Wiluna, Western Australia 2,973kms 529 report.
1402z  278KHz  WS    Westport, New Zealannd 2,081kms 519 report.
1338z  281KHz  NV    Navua, Viti Levu Island, Fiji 3,250kms 319 report.
1336z  268KHz  FRT   Forrest, Western Australia 2,191kms 519 report.
1458z  242KHz  KOW Kowanyama, QLD 2,190kms 529 report.
1556z  346KHz  TG    Tauranga, New Zealand 2,357kms 529 report.
1531z  233KHz  AYE   Ayres Rock, Northern Territory 2,072kms 419 report.
1444z  383KHz  WLU  Wiluna, Western Australia 2,973kms 519 report.
1349z  404KHz  KA    Karratha, Western Australia 3,568kms 519 report.
1341z  354KHz  FND  La Tonouta, New Caledonia 2,033kms 319 report.
1318z  260KHz  PD    Port Hedland, Western Australia 3,434kms 519-529 report.
1340z  233KHz  NWN Newman, Western Australia 3,189kms 519 report.
1359z  251KHz  MEK  Meekatharra, Western Australia 3,143kms 519 report.
1315z  322KHz  CI     Chatham Island, New Zealand 3,091kms 319-419 report.
1435z  272KHz  TNK  Tennant Creek, Northern Territory, 2,224kms 519 report.
1309z  242KHz  PP     Parapamaru, New Zealand 2,344kms 519 report.
1308z  386KHz  LX     Alexandra, New Zealand 2,099kms 529 report.
1315z  326KHz  WR   Whangarei, New Zealand 2,211kms 519 report.
1316z  356KHz  TN    Tindal, Northern Territory 2,785kms 529 report.
1311z  310KHz  HK    Hokitika, New Zealand 2,081kms 559 report.
1801z  386KHz  BLN  Busselton, Western Australia 3,213kms 319 report.
1756z  335KHz  AS    Alice Springs, Northern Territory, 1,995kms 529 report.
1317z  358KHz  NL    Newlands, New Zealand 2,316kms 529 report.
1404z  350KHz  KI    Kaikoura, New Zealand 2,281kms 419 report.
1311z  362KHz  WK  Whakatane, New Zealand 2,467kms 319 report.
1257z  254KHz  AS   Ashburton, New Zealand 2,196kms 529 report.
1233z  238KHz  KT   Kaitaia, New Zealand 2,128kms 559 report.
1435z  230KHz  AP   Taupo, New Zealand 2,393kms 519 report.
1237z  311KHz  NTN Normanton, Queensland 1,993kms 529 report.
1837z  320KHz  BRM Broome, Western Australia 3,286kms 519 report.

1420z  475KHz  ??    Mystery signal sending very slow morse, T N C T C N E T, marginal copy, experimental licence frequency.

Many other Australian NDB stations under 2,000kms heard but not of interest this way.

[jFarley]

Nice logs!  Our season here is ending, and just picking thru archived recordings for straggler logs at this point.

[pinto vortando]

That 475kc sig is right in the middle of the 630 meter ham band here in the States.
AFAIK, Aussie hams may have the same allocation.   
nice report on all the NDBs   
Are they decommissioning many beacons in your country ?

[Looking-Glass]

pinto vortando:  Around 150 beacons were shut down around three years ago in Australia and also New Zealand plus Papua New Guinea also closed down a large number of NDB's around the same time.

Some of the High Power 1.0 to 2.0Kw NDB's in Australia have been scaled back to lower power to cover around 30-50 nautical miles in navigation reforms during last year or so too.

Countries with a 475KHz band allocation are:

Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brasil, Canada, France, Germany, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Monaco and USA.

There may be some additional countries to add to that list, I haven't up dated it for some time now.  I suspect the 475KHz CW I logged was either from Australia or New Zealand, some experimental "low power" licences have also been issued in Australia for 137KHz, there is a VK4 radio amateur currently running a small low powered beacon down there at the present.

jFarley:  Thanks, seem to struggle this way to get over the 3,500kms distance, being trying for Indonesia prior and during the morning Grey Line but no luck so far.  Those in northern Australia hear them better than me.