Auroral propagation provided another thrilling session on the cold ocean beach at Grayland this morning, with powerful Australian signals booming in during a sharp sunrise enhancement from 1300-1400. 531 kHz especially was a real circus, with 4KZ hitting S9 peaks after temporarily dispatching PI around 1305, only to have the Samoan Kiwi station come back with yet another co-channel to make the frequency a total zoo by 1345. In comparison to a typical Rockwork 4 Kiwi-slanted opening this Grayland session was heavily dominated by Australia, and the lack of any solid rock cliff to provide domestic signal attenuation was noticeable in the increased splatter.

 

An initial carrier check in my motel room at 1030 confirmed that Asian propagation was on the skids, but DU signals hadn't yet hit their stride, either. My ocean beach session started at 1255, by which time Australian signals were already potent in the clear and cold conditions. 531 kHz already featured a wild snarl between 4KZ and New Zealand's PI, a competition which continued for a full hour. 4KZ went on a monster run with its Cassowary Coast weather report and pop music around 1310, hitting an awesome S9 level before falling back down into a 3-station DU mix. One of the 855 LR network stations had a huge peak at 1317 before falling back into the splatter, while the RN network big gun parallels on 576 and 792 boomed in with jazz music at 1327. 585 had a strong rock music station not // 576 (probably 2WEB) around 1333, while 603-Waatea was one of the few Kiwis to dominate temporarily over an Aussie with its Maori music at 1337. A return check to 531 kHz at 1345 revealed 3 DU stations in a graveyard mix-- obviously with 4KZ and PI, but the third one was a mystery (Theo, are you there?).