Snagged RNZ Pacific a little bit ago. Surprised how well it is coming in this late in the morning on 49m
Good catch but not that surprising - you are seven hours ahead of us so your 08.58 local time is 01.58 here (or maybe 00.58 if you are on summertime) and the lower HF frequencies do propagate well at those times - it's one of those things to remember, signals come from the West in the mornings and East in the evening.
Going in the other direction..... Radio Turkey in English at 0326UTC/1526 local with a great signal S9+ with singing and some local news - late afternoon in winter here so starting to get dark - checking on the globe it must have been on the gray line propagation.
Good catches. RNZI throws a lot of power in the direction of the US, which helps. Lately I've had poor conditions with a few standouts here or there... Voz Missionaria on 9665 Khz being one of them. BBC in French to W. Africa (from the UK) in the 31 meter band being another (signal aimed in the wrong direction for the PNW US). Sometimes you get some amazing catches even when sunspots are down.