January 2010 ABDX Journal
Vol 5. Issue 1
Editors Corner:
ABDX membership is 232 members and still growing!
To those of you who are in ABDX, I am STILL looking for people to
write or compile monthly columns. The columns that are not available are Nothin’
But Net (Internet) and Down In The
Basement (LW). All other topics are open for aspiring writers. Join me along
with Jay Heyl and Martin Foltz in creating the ABDX Journal.
Anyone who wants to put a one time item in the Journal please
submit it to me at big_h00pla at yahoo dot com for consideration. ABDX is also
always available to someone who wants to offer a review of some new radio or
product. Let us know how that new whiz bang gizmo you got is working out.
Propagational
seasons are changing and we are beginning the up side of the solar cycle. This
will bring new stations on AM but will really help reception of HF signals,
especially on the upper bands. Be open to trying new things as the solar cycle
progresses.
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you have something to sell and want to have it on the ABDX list and have it in
the ABDX Journal, please join the ABDX list and you can post it there and I will
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You can get your copy of the journal at www.abdx.org
Turn your radio on. What are you hearing? The world is out there just for tuning in. You never know what you might hear.
Kevin Redding, Phil Rafuse,
Editors Corner 1
The Broadcast Band – AM 2
Down In The Basement – LW
21
The Whole Earth – HF/SW 22
The Line of Sight and Beyond – FM 73
The Visible Universe – TV 74
Nuthin’ But Net – Net Video and Audio 74
You Don’t Need a Weatherman – Weather Band 74
Extra, Extra – News 74
Bargain Barn –
Show And Tell – Review of New Toys 77
Testing, Testing… - Upcoming Tests 77
Call Sign Changes – From the FCC 73
I Got The Bird – Satellite 78
1/8
Heard at 11:37 A. M. WSQL, 1240 kHz, Brevard, N. C., with weather report, a distance of 165 miles. Was trying for Powell's station, WKDK, 1240 kHz, Newberry, S. C., which came in just ahead of WSQL on groundwave with a local spot. Radio used was a Zenith Royal 74 Deluxe portable, nekkid.
Heard
twice recently in separate locations... WGTR, 970,
(1/2/10
6:48PM ET) Ford car radio near
(1/16/10
6:50PM ET) Ford car radio near
WTNI; 1640Khz. Biloxi, Ms. at 0540z with MORSE ID--continuous tape announcing a public service message to be made at 4PM CST jan. ?19?, 2010--(not sure of date)book shows 10000kw/1000kw power levels, but i believe he's running the full 10K tonight--
JAN
01 1300 EST 1570 KC WWCK
JAN
01 1715 EST 820 KC WWBA
JAN
01 1759 EST 1160 KC WCRT DONELSON TN 50K
JAN
01 1805 EST 1170 KC KFAQ
JAN
01 2022 EST 850 KC KOA
JAN
01 2215 EST 820 KC WBAP
ULR
SONY SRF-M40W BAREFOOT
just
copied 790 WLSV Wellsville NY for the 2nd time at night, they run 41
watts. just checked FCC database. it can't be right jan 18 and jan 31. wonder
whats going on ?
790
WLSV NY 1840 EST Jan 11
790
WLSV NY 2046 EST Jan 31
I'm
still having problems trying to fall asleep at night. Guess I'm not fully
back on schedule yet. Anyway, I tried to see if I could get anything on my
630 kHz UNID from the night before, but zippo. So, I decided to
channel-hop to 640 kHz and then later to 660 kHz. Here's what I heard
640
kHz
04-JAN-10
0128 CST WWLS
into
ESPN Sports
660
kHz
04-JAN-10
0157
of
a pre-recorded Dennis Prager Christmas show.
Upon
noticing that the "new" KGBC 1540 on
The
time was 1/21 2116 UTC (1516 PM CST) and all I was hearing was Spanish-language
programming with Tejano music. I had forgtten that KGBT was a Univision
outlet.
At
2159 UTC, they gave an English ID - "This is KGBT 1530 in
ZAP!
they were gone!
Just
checked the frequency again this morning 1/22. KGBC 1540 on Galveston
Island (TX) is still off the air. This is the station that recently
switched to China Radio International
programming.
Haven't
heard why they suddenly went off the air, but it opens up 3 frequencies for me
(1530/1540/1550)!!
1/8
This
HAR is around 30 miles from me. I can faintly hear it on the Kaito 1123 NEKKID
and listen to it with a loop.......... They must be running a bit of
power.
1550
WIGN TN Bristol 1530 hours Bottom of the hour break with
WIGN mentioned......
2000
Taurus wagon AKA "The Flying Car" in the Newberry, SC
Tractor Supply parking lot. 01/16-2010 PEW SC
1/30
930
WGAD AL Rainbow city 2207 hours with singing jingle and
back into oldies. Strong and holding it over the normal mess on 930. My
first reported logging with the 1951 Zenith
G500
Transoceanic. PEW -SC
1/30
With
local CFTR on 680 and the IBOC from 700, I don't expect to hear anything on 690
from inside an apartment building using a SONY-ICF-2010 and Radio Shack Loop.
940
on the other hand.... Last night WGRP was dominating with
their "2 watts" of night-time power. Gee, with 2 watts
you'd think I'd be hearing the other two
As
sunrise approached 940 became a mix of WGRP's classic country, CJGX's more
modern country and KPSZ's religion. At 8:00 a.m. WKGM (
Eventually
I'll catch something new on 940. One I'd like to hear is KVSH in
1/22
WLTQ
730 is now listenable at home (daytime), where I used to only be able to hear
them on the Beach. I am about 4 miles inland. They now have a great signal this
way.
Maybe
the CP for higher power ?
Anyway, they are coming in as I write this 7:30 pm, so maybe they forgot to lower power, or the 103 watts are getting out pretty darn good.
02JAN10
0000CST KVDW England AR rel pgm ending then ID as "Vern 1530
broadcasting
from towers in
in
02JAN10
0600CST KLBW New
KLBW"
ID. Last heard as KNBO in 1996
600
710
CUBA Radio Rebelde synchros JAN 15 2350 UTC - // 600 with some splatter from
next-to-adjacent locals on 690 and 730. Over WOR though ! Heard on the Sony
SRF-A1 walkman with its built-in ferrite rod antenna ! (Chiochiu-QC)
780
630
CFCO Chattam, ON JAN 15 1706 EST - playing a contemporary country song with
electric guitar on one ear and drums on the other one. Switch beetwen both due
to "platform motion"... Carried hockey later, after 1930 EST, after an
ad for a sweater ! With so much talk: WPRO, CFCO, WMAL et al, I though they went
dark, due to their 92.9 simulcast, which is a shame, as it is my best source of
Motorola C-Quam DXing ! (BC-QC)
890
WLS Chicago, IL JAN 15 2018 EST - Heard Emerson Lake and Palmer "welcome
back my friend to the show that never ends, come inside, come inside..."
symphonic prog-rock gem on the right ear and the talkshow host on the left ear !
Yes, and with NO platform motion effect, in null of WCBS-880 HD QRM ! Excellent,
almost local-like ! (BC-QC)
940
CINW Montréal, QC JAN 15 1505 EST - heard with monaural music on the right ear
and just powerline noises on the left one as I was in the center of the local
noise storm that Hydro Québec will solve tonight ! It appears this walkman
brings platform motion effect and stereo where it doesn't belong as well as
where it REALLY belongs. CINW never used stereo and is not doing so today either
! (BC-QC)
1280
CFMB
1310
CIWW Ottawa, ON JAN 15 1536 EST - Heard with one 70s song alternating between
left and right ear, platform motion effect with stereo-like separation ! Mixing
with WORC ! (BC-QC)
1310
WORC
1340
WIRY Plattsburg, NY JAN 15 1108 EST - playing a funky song from the late 70s or
early 80s with a nice separation between the funky guitar and the drums that
were trading places due to the "platform motion" effect... Its the
first time I hear anything close to Dance Music on this otherwise eclectic
1610
CJWI Montréal, QC JAN 15 - often overtaked by overspills from CFAV-1570, some
huge 40 kHz away ! (BC-QC)
1630
KCJJ Iowa City, IA 01/28 0154 EST - End of ad bloc, "Hot Talk, Hot
Hits" jingle with very clean stereo separation during a very good signal
peak, followed by an Alicia Keys number. Also heard a couple of dozens of
minutes earlier with a man host talking about the best way to take care of a
golden retriever (like the very sensitive one I already breed and cheers).
SINPO 43523 and I more reliable than WIRY-1340 as far as its signal strength
goes, at least that's the way it was the past night. I'm very happy with this
one ! Heard with a fair level of QRM from WDAG (also new !) and a
Spanish Mexican playing ranchera that was probably the one in
1680
WTTM Princettown, NJ 01/28 0235 EST - in order to get it in CQuam, I almost had
to break the dial which stopss right at 1678 or 1679 kHz, sounded like some
stereo separation on WTTM, maybe just a fake ? Always hard to tell with those
forced stereo sets like my trusty Sony CFS-6000 (which works very well between
515 and 1670 kHz) and the poor stereo separation on ranchera music, though I
thought I had one instrument one side and the other on the left side with the
voice in both channels, though it was hard to tell. Fadings on the X-band are
choppy and my inability to tune right to 1680 made the fadings sound even more
unbearable than on KCJJ ! (BC-QC)
600
690
1230
WSSL 27/01 1436 - ESPN sports report and WSSL ID... Haven`t tried to find out
from where it came, but it must be a good catche, like any GY DX. (BC-QC)
1240
WH?C 27/01 1445 - Your best memories, WH?C and 40s Frank Sinatra-style music.
Fair over jumble ! What is the third letter ? (BC-QC)
630
CFCO Chattam, ON 27/01 0245 - for a few seconds excellent with an electric
guitar on the left and a funky guitar on the right while playing a country
tune... Couldn`t get clear stereo for more than a few seconds, but the Sony
CFS-6000 is definitively a good C-Quam tuner ! (BC-QC)
1350
WINY
1630 KCJJ Iowa City, IA 26/01 0230 - ID with clear audio but no real stereo separation. Is it still C-Quam and is it still playing music ? They sounded more like a talker ! I`m afraid, I couldn`t test my Sony CFS-6000 on those guys ! At least, they are still getting out ! Usually where there is even some slight co-channel QRM, the stereo is faking or moving sidewards, even if the audio is overal clear, so I need an insight if KCJJ-1630 is still C-Quam into 2010. (BC-QC)
630
CFCO Chattam, ON 27/01 0245 - for a few seconds excellent with an electric
guitar on the left and a funky guitar on the right while playing a country
tune... Couldn`t get clear stereo for more than a few seconds, but the Sony
CFS-6000 is definitively a good C-Quam tuner ! (BC-QC)
1350
WINY
1630 KCJJ Iowa City, IA 26/01 0230 - ID with clear
audio but no real stereo separation. Is it still C-Quam and is it still playing
music ? They sounded more like a talker ! I`m afraid, I couldn`t test my Sony
CFS-6000 on those guys ! At least, they are still getting out ! Usually
where there is even some slight co-channel QRM, the stereo is faking or moving
sidewards, even if the audio is overal clear, so I need an insight if KCJJ-1630
is still C-Quam into 2010. (BC-QC)
640
710
750
760
780
1140
KHTK Sacramento, CA 1/3 0700 ID and
local spots bubbling up out of the muck at TOH and just after. this station
hasnt made an appearance here in a while. (Barton-AZ)
1600
KRKE Albuquerque , NM 1/10 10:00A Monitoring
at home with comms recievers and longwires, have been hearing daylight DX for
past cupola weeks here. suspected either KRKE in
today
i monitored 1600 in truck radio and heard station with trios norteno music, but
right at 10:00, a very clear ID bubbled up out of the soup "1600...KRKE
Albuquerque" by male announcer. station faded out for a moment, then
returned with Summer in the City by Lovin Spoonful. 300 +- miles at
midmorning. (1/10 Barton-AZ)
700
KALL N. Salt Lake City 0830 (MST) Spot
for credit repair, clear ID by male "on KALL-700". Heard very strong,
well after usual S.R. fadeout, with very small portable on a towel rack in the
bathroom ! true story ! i get good condx when it rains in the desert, and
it is raining here today . :D i expect to log a few more today.
(1/18 Barton-AZ)
1330
KGAK Gallup, NM 1700 (MST) ID, indigenous music,
announcer in Navajo. at 1707 KGAK was blown out by unid. playing
"Anarchy in the
1620
KSMH W. Sacramento, CA 1545 Call-in show in
poroigress, with religious discussion. Very strong. (1/18 Barton-AZ)
1630
XEUT Tijuana, Baja del Norte, Mexico 1600 Romantic ballads
with near-local signal before TOH, solid clear ID by male 1600,into trios
norteno music. (1/18 Barton-AZ)
1600 KRKE Albuquerque , NM Christopher Cross vocal (Never Be the Same) and off and on mixing with unid Spanish lang sta. Good ID by M at 1030 A / 1730 UTC "on 1600 - KRKE
1/29
I'm
getting 940 CJGX Yorkton SK, pretty well at times, at other times I'm getting
Spanish language talk.
Now,
690 is proving to be interesting. I have to listen on LSB, because 693 BBC
is hammering in tonight. So, the only receiver that truly works well on
ECSS in my stable is the Icom R-75.
I'm
getting English language talk, very CBC like, although I can't say for sure that
it is CBC. If it proves to be CBC, it could be the 40 watt CBC repeater in
NB rather than CBU in Vancouver. However, the English is not parallel to
640 CBN or 1140 CBI, which seems to rule out the 40 watt repeater theory.
Now,
I'm getting Spanish language talk on 690, parallel to Spanish language talk in
the background of CBN on 640. Likely radio Progresso in Cuba.
1/29
Progreso
ID heard a few minutes ago. 690 is starting to get interesting... some EE
floated up minutes ago, and I recognize the program as "As It Happens"
- gotta be CBU! There is also a US station in the mix at times, heard
running ads, but no ID yet.
1/31
I
didn't know there was a Progreso active on 940 - will have to watch for that
one. So far, I've been spending more time on 690. Here's what I've
heard so far:
690:
Progreso (usually dominant here after dark), Colombia, WELD, KTSM, CBU
(surprisingly nearly alone y'day about half an hour before my local sunrise).
940:
XEQ (presumed), WGRP, WGFP, WIDG, CJGX (often dominant here).
Only
new logging so far is KTSM, but that was very unexpected and welcome. My
fond hopes for 690 include logging daytimers WADS and WPHE, but both null me
(being close to Montreal), so those are faint hopes. I've previously logged many
of the other good targets (AL, FL, LA, KS, MI, NE, VA, WI), but there are still
some interesting ones to hunt (e.g., MN, MO, and maybe CO and SK).
On
940, there's a bunch to look for, including the 250 watters in OH and PA,
WECO
in TN, KVSH in NE, and WCSW in WI.
Heard
on an Eton E1 and 150 foot wire 1/1:
1090 WBAL Baltimore, MD 1535 with TFC/WX then ID and talk show with Jim Boehner giving an interview obviously drunk as they come. NEW!
1320
WBOB Jacksonville, FL 2015 with ID and into ABC Network Basketball, Fade out
soon after. NEW.
Heard
on an Eton E-1 and 150' wire 1/5:
1450
WDNG Anniston, AL 1700 ToH ID and into NX and then shortly after, plop! Back
into the soup. NEW #434
Heard
on a 2004 Gold Saturn Ion radio and 31" whip in Adamsville, TN:
1500
KSTP St. Paul, MN 1630 with WX report and ID. New! #435
Heard
on a CCRadio nekkid 1/8:
1070
KNX Los Angeles, CA 0010 with ID and news about UCLA.
880
WCBS New York, NY 0030 with ID, ads and into NX and then WX,
Heard
on an Eton E1 and 150 foot wire 1/8:
790
WKRD Louisville, KY 0740 with ID and sports talk then ad for KY Wildcats
basketball and overtaken by WMC. NEW
Heard
on an Eton E-1 and 150' wire 1/9:
1600
KLEB Golden Meadow, LA 1848 with Nicholls State U. Colonels playing the
Northwestern State Demons in a basketball game.
1360
WMOB Mobile, AL 2100 with perfect ToH ID and announcing // to WTOF 1110 Bay
Minette. REL format and very strong signal.
Heard
on an Eton E-1 and 150' wire 1/13:
1020
WCIL Carbondale, IL 0706 with ads for "Carbondale and southern
Illinois" and into talk show. Faded quickly. New!
Heard
on an Eton E-1 and 150' wire 1/13:
1100
WGCA Woodbine, GA 0600 with ToH ID and list of localities on the GA coast from
border to border, into SRN/IRN news.
Today
1/15 it was 61F / 16.1C outside and sunny. It was a super nice day and after
putting out 50 lbs of fertilizer in the garden and tilling it in with a tractor,
yours truly sat on the porch with a DX 440 and did a little listening until the
sun went all the way down.
860
KKOW Pittsburg, KS 1705 ID and into sports talk about the local HS BKB team.
950
KWOS Jefferson City, MO 1710 mentioning capital city and a garage door company
in Jeff City before giving ID.
Heard
on an Eton E-1 and 150' wire.
1310 WPBC Decatur, GA 1702 - 1723 with jazz by Miles Davis "So What" and then into KK pgm. Sounds like a KK soap opera. NEW, heard before but never logged.
1/23 I
have been occasionally hearing Asian late in the afternoons on 1600 from KRVA in
Cockrell Hill, TX. I even got a ToH ID from them and never posted it. Its new
for me to report
though.
Just one of those things that happen when you get busy I guess.
Heard
1/27 on an Eton E-1 and 150' wire.
1120 WTWZ Clinton, MS 1230 o/u KMOX playing bluegrass. BoH ID. NEW.
**
U S A. 1480 in Wichita KS had been Radio Disney, but now as heard Jan 7 at 1957
UT it`s ``The Big Talker, 1480 KQAM``. Promo gave list of talkshow lineup, too
quick to copy down, but not a one of them liberal and some of them far-right
wackos, anything but in the public interest, such as Glenn Beck, John Gibson. At
least they also have relatively moderate Joe Scarborough, and Jim Bohannon ---
only America in the Morning, not his evening talkshow.
If
KQAM has its own website, it`s not showing up anywhere near the top of Google
searches. But here`s the program list, CST = UT -6, as if they turn the
transmitter off for weekends:
http://www.allaccess.com/net-news/archive/story/68784/kqam-wichita-unveils-talk-lineup?ref=search
And
another story about the transfer:
http://news.radio-online.com/cgi-bin/rol.exe/headline_id=b12119
A
big SNAFU at 2000 UT as commercials continued for the first half of the
one-minute Fox ``News``, double audio; no loss. 2001 switches to Mid-America
Network, owned by same group, for bitter cold weather forecast, 2002 market
report (meaning ag, not stock), 2003 promo Imus show which includes local news
breaks.
Strangely
enough, during the Radio Disney era, kept old calls KQAM, which don`t seem to
relate to any cartoon character, and are still keeping them. KQAM was originally
on 1410, and now that is co-owned with present 1410, sports talk, KGSO. Both put
adequate daytime groundwave signals into Enid almost 200 km away.
Steckline
Communications already owned 1410, and FCC AM Query Jan 7 still shows 1480 owned
by Disney. It also shows:
20-year
Call Sign history of the 1480 facility, #61352:
Current
Call Sign: KQAM
Call
Sign Begin Date
KQAM
09/23/1997
KZSN
02/01/1990
KLEO
12/31/1982
KWKN
09/01/1980
And
of the 1410 facility, #53150:
Current
Call Sign: KGSO
Call
Sign Begin Date
KGSO
05/01/2005
KMYR
09/23/1997
KQAM
09/15/1980
KEYN
Will
Radio Disney find another outlet in Wichita? The Radio Disney website thinx they
are still on 1480:
http://radio.disney.go.com/music/yourstation/wichita/index.html
**
U S A. As I was falling asleep, Jan 3 around 0645 UT, old time radio show on
1670. Must be WTDY Madison WI, which favors far-right wacko talkhosts much of
the time, Beck, Miller, Medved, Ingraham, but per sked http://www.wtdy.com/content/SHOWS-16.html
When
Radio Was is indeed on its air UT Sundays 05-08. This title does *not* refer to
``when radio was subject to the Fairness Doctrine``. Also of possible interest:
UT Mondays 00-03, Sunday Night Bandstand with Ben Benedetti (Glenn Hauser, OK,
DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U S A [and non]. I have heard KXTR 1660 Kansas City several times since last
report, with classical music, but Jan 4 at 2145 UT on caradio I was hearing
nothing on the frequency but ``ESPN 1660``. Since the predicted temps were
negative F, must have been KQWB ND rather than KRZI TX (and we never hear WBMX
NC here --- all with ESPN per NRC AM Log).
It
faded down a few minutes later, and there was a SAH, and then barely detectable
classical music, so apparently KXTR was on the air after all, but why so weak?
Chicago 1690 and Madison 1670 were also in at the time. KXTR has been off and on
for some weeks due to antenna work. Could be they are running much less than 10
kW at the moment; hope it is not a permanent reduxion in power or skywave
coverage. But homepage http://www.kxtr.com
no longer says anything about antenna work.
BTW,
the player which linx to all Entercom stations puts this and a bunch of its
other KC stations in the KC KS, not MO market. Of course, it`s really both, but
the MO side is larger and usually dominates. KXTR`s city of license is KC KS and
KXTR transmitter site is in fact in Kansas, at 94-36-56 W longitude, i.e. less
than one minute west of the straight N-S border between the states, counties,
and cities.
The
same meridian is named State Line Road, at least a bit further south, and I have
driven it with the peculiar feeling of being in two places at once, but nothing
like the Four Corners monument, until we found out it is in the wrong place.
However,
classical music was dominating 1660 at 0648 UT Jan 5. Possibly the daytime
reception (non) was a propagational quirk. KXTR is the ONLY MW signal normally
audible here playing classical music, as there are NO public radio stations left
on MW in this part of the country, let alone any other commercial classicals.
What a vast wasteland, culturally, geographically and frequencially.
Even
CBC has banned classical music from Radio One, often audible via CBW 990 --- the
closest they come is Inside the Music, UT Mondays 0305-0400, but that`s a lot of
talk ABOUT classical music (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
OKLAHOMA. 1120, KEOR, Sperry, had been rather constant, but Jan 8 at 2030 UT
found it missing and for several minutes as I was land-mobile. Signal audible
sometime after 2100, and since it was talk, figured it was now KMOX, until heard
KJMU-1340 ID (only), the station it simulcasts in Sand Springs, back to Old
School music (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U S A. 1480 in Wichita KS had been Radio Disney, but now as heard Jan 7 at 1957
UT it`s ``The Big Talker, 1480 KQAM``. Promo gave list of talkshow lineup, too
quick to copy down, but not a one of them liberal and some of them far-right
wackos, anything but in the public interest, such as Glenn Beck, John Gibson. At
least they also have relatively moderate Joe Scarborough, and Jim Bohannon ---
only America in the Morning, not his evening talkshow.
If
KQAM has its own website, it`s not showing up anywhere near the top of Google
searches. But here`s the program list, CST = UT -6, as if they turn the
transmitter off for weekends:
http://www.allaccess.com/net-news/archive/story/68784/kqam-wichita-unveils-talk-lineup?ref=search
And
another story about the transfer:
http://news.radio-online.com/cgi-bin/rol.exe/headline_id=b12119
A
big SNAFU at 2000 UT as commercials continued for the first half of the
one-minute Fox ``News``, double audio; no loss. 2001 switches to Mid-America
Network, owned by same group, for bitter cold weather forecast, 2002 market
report (meaning ag, not stock), 2003 promo Imus show which includes local news
breaks.
Strangely
enough, during the Radio Disney era, kept old calls KQAM, which don`t seem to
relate to any cartoon character, and are still keeping them. KQAM was originally
on 1410, and now that is co-owned with present 1410, sports talk, KGSO. Both put
adequate daytime groundwave signals into Enid almost 200 km away.
Steckline
Communications already owned 1410, and FCC AM Query Jan 7 still shows 1480 owned
by Disney. It also shows:
20-year
Call Sign history of the 1480 facility, #61352:
Current
Call Sign: KQAM
Call
Sign Begin Date
KQAM
09/23/1997
KZSN
02/01/1990
KLEO
12/31/1982
KWKN
09/01/1980
And
of the 1410 facility, #53150:
Current
Call Sign: KGSO
Call
Sign Begin Date
KGSO
05/01/2005
KMYR
09/23/1997
KQAM
09/15/1980
KEYN
Will
Radio Disney find another outlet in Wichita? The Radio Disney website thinx they
are still on 1480:
http://radio.disney.go.com/music/yourstation/wichita/index.html
(Glenn
Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U S A. MW report, with apologies to any SWBC-only readers who may stop reading
immediately or skip to UNIDENTIFIED.
Some
people have been wondering about my getting WNAX-570 South Dakota in the daytime
here in Enid OK. Is it skywave, especially in midwinter? NO. I get it all the
time, month-in and month-out, QRN level permitting. It is always under much
stronger KLIF Dallas, and not really listenable, and with a slow SAH.
Last
time I was in OKC at midday, Jan 15, I checked on the caradio, and WNAX was
still audible there, despite stronger signal from KLIF than in Enid, of course.
Approximate distance Yankton-OKC is only 400 miles, not as far as you might
think, since there is nowhere closer in SD than Yankton in the SE tip, and the
path is across our high-ground-conductivity Great Plains.
I
would love to try for further KFYR-550 Bismarck ND, which also has a tremendous
coverage area; if only KFRM in Kansas would go away (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
UT
Logs afternoon of Jan 21 on caradio as I was driving around or parked at various
Enid spots:
1540
at 2042, ``ESPN Deportes Radio, 15-40 AM`` IDs more than once, with the ``ESPN``
letters pronounced as in English, no doubt mandated by management. Promo for
station ad sales with 214 AC soon gave away the source. Fortunately The Dallas
Metroplex has three overlain area codes so they have to give 10-digit phonumbers.
This
was atop the channel, probably KXEL skywave underneath. Amid SS, inserted a
Selective Service System PSA in English, seemed aimed at guest aliens about the
need to register. Never heard call-letter ID, but NRC AM Log 2009-2010 shows it
as KZMP, COL University Park, 32 kW in daytime, U4 antenna.
FCC
AM Query shows a neat 3-lobe pattern, with peaks at 90, 190 and 285 degrees;
nulls at 145, 230 and 355 (rounded off, measured only every 5 degrees). We are
somewhere around 345-350 degrees, so suspect the pattern was out of whack to be
putting such a dominant signal in here, and certainly skywave, not groundwave.
See
http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/amq?list=0&facid=63551
Even
stranger, FCC lists night power as 0.0 kW, yet includes all the antenna
parameters, a similar but different pattern with 5 lobes, the major one due
east. But on the pattern plot, power shows as 750 watts night, matching NRC AM
Log info.
Meanwhile,
Metroplex Spanish on 1440 was inbooming, in fact far stronger than OKC`s 1460
KZUE groundwave. No wonder, as KTNO is now 50 kW in daytime on what was once a
10-kW regional channel.
I
wonder how 1540`s KZMP calls possibly correlate with a Spanish slogan, or with
ESPN. Or are they just random? ``Zumbido más potente``? But there is no hum,
hmmm.
Also
wonder how the network ESPN could come up with a Spanish or English slogan to
match the letters, which long ago became a meaningless corporate initialism,
rather than Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, as was the original
cable TV channel (I think). How about
``Extremely
Silly Passion Network``
``Estúpidos
Son Para Nosotros``
(Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
1060,
Jan 21 at 2054 UT, financial talk about derivatives, ``Off the Wall Street Radio
Network`` --- not sure if that was a joke? No, googled this about Phil`s Gang
Radio Show, and the time matches 20-21 UT: http://chataboutit.com/about/phils-gang-radio-show/
Apparently
that ``network`` applies only to this one show, like EIB.
But
whence on 1060? Retuned after hourtop at 2105, ad mentioned ``here in Boulder``,
then ``AM 1060 and 1580, Business Radio`` in Colorado. So it`s KRCN, COL
Longmont, 50 kW in daytime. 1580 refers to KKKK Colorado Springs; NRC AM Log
shows them both as ``The Big Money Station``, not a slogan I heard. 1060 was so
steady for so long that I was wondering if I had a new semi-close station by
groundwave, normally vacant in daytime, but no, this was skywave (Glenn Hauser,
Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
1220,
South Asian music dominating the channel, Jan 21 at 2124, in fact classical
sitar music, nice! 2130 switched to vocal S Asian music. Only problem a bit of
splash from semi-local WBBZ 1230 Ponca City OK.
Lots
of music, lacking ads or other announcements, even at drivetime! Should also
make it a good companion if it streams. Finally at 2139 gave phone number
972-243-8411, i.e. Dallas. 2200 kept playing music past hourtop, a song with
instrumental accompaniment including bagpipes. 2204 dead air as I had to tune
away, but still there at 2225 check.
Uplooked
later in NRC AM Log, this is KZEE, COL Weatherford TX, Asian ethnic as ``Hot
Pepper 1220`` and ``South Asian Radio`` with only 1.6 kW day power, so doing a
good job here on afternoon skywave. Is Midwest City OK KTLV still on? Rarely
audible here and no problem for KZEE`s Enid listener.
Yes,
it does stream, autolaunching from http://www.radiohotpepper.com/
And is there a program/language schedule? Of course not! But there is quite a
gallery of hosts, most of them not accompanied by specific time slots. Refers to
format as ``Indi-Tex``, and shows radio-locator map from site W of Ft Worth so
skews eastward, but not nulled usward.
The
Metroplex sure has a lot of Asian stations of various ilx, as well as Spanish
ones all over the AM dial (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
1190,
Jan 21 at 2148 UT, promo for a silly ballgame in Lubbock, but then ID as ``CNN
1190`` so has to be KFXR Dallas, which has a minor lobe almost due north,
besides the major lobes to the WSW and ESE from site W of Dallas. That`s the
original KLIF facility (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
1210,
Jan 21 at 2152, heard ID in English as ``ESPN Radio``, apparently atop KGYN.
Only thing that fits per NRC AM Log listings is WSKR, COL Denham Springs LA,
near Bâton Rouge with 10 kW, tho there`s another ESPN in SW Utah, a bit too
early for that (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U S A. 25+ hours after 1440 was dominated by KTNO, Spanish from The Metroplex,
tried again on caradio Jan 22 at 2200 UT and immediately heard ID for WGEM in
Quincy IL. Now there`s a heritage call which has managed to survive; I think I
picked up their TV channel 10 in the 1960s long before I heard the AM. But it`s
no full service radio, now just another ESPN affiliate per NRC AM Log listing.
By 2206 Spanish music from KTNO was atop.
Also
24 hours after 1220 was dominated by KZEE, Hot Pepper 1220, one of The Metroplex
ethnic stations, Jan 22 at 2200 on the caradio I could barely make out its South
Asian music in the pileup (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U S A. Driving around Enid Jan 28 near low noon, which is always 1832 UT, still
some X-band daytime skywave DX tho the sun is zenithing higher every day as
spring oncomes. (Snow did not start until 2100 Jan 28; plenty snow into midday
Jan 29 but no significant icing or power outages here unlike further south in
OK.) Tuning around the X-band in the daytime is always interesting as
propagation conditions vary widely.
A
music station weakly on 1690 around 1815 UT, audible when propagation peaks
matched increasingly rare low-noise spots in the city. And again at 1912 when a
Radio Disney ID made it. Therefore it can only be KDDZ in Arvada CO as the only
dizzy outlet on frequency, and the only other station normally heard here on
1690 is talker WVON in the Chicago area. Denver`s other X-bander, Spanish KBJD
1650, might have accompanied KDDZ if it were not for splash from our local
KFXY-1640. No other significant skywave skywave signals on X-band during this
hour, not even KXTR-1660 Kansas City KS (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
1/30
From
the Cape: Early TAs way down. BBC on 693 might have been a little better but
pretty much a yawner.
6
pm recording last night East antenna -- 690 mixing SS presume Columbia and
Progresso -- 940 Punto Fijo and other SS possibly Progresso or Puerto Rico.
7
pm recording last night East antenna -- 690 SS music//900 Progresso and
Venezuela (Oriente) -- 940 Progresso and Venezuela (Punto Fijo) and carrier at
939.87, presume XEQ per MWOffsets. I had an "esta es .." ID at :59:45
and I will send it in for verification.Pretty hacked up by WGIN 930
No
sign of Canada on either frequencies
3
am recording this morning West antenna -- 690 Progresso dominant -- 940 still
trashed by 930 but ID noted from Classic Country WGRP//1470The Mexican growl
still noted (but not to be confused with a mexican high)
It's
been a while but 1/4 i got :
8:44
PM Central KTRS 'The Big 550 ktrs' 5000w St. Louis Mo. Sports talk
and commercials 517 miles
Sun
Jan 10 7:53 PM central
KTNN
660 khz 'AM 660' 'The voice of the Navajo Nation' 50,000w from Window Rock
Az. 728 miles
Deep
fading till 8:00 ,then very good signal with country music then News ,and TOH ID
then a couple native songs and back to slow country.
Radio
locator shows them to have a pattern towards the west at night. I think this is
my most distant South west contact ? and from west of the Rockies .
9:41
PM
KEEL
710 khz 'News Radio 710' 50,000w day 5000w night Shreveport
La. 739 miles , Gun Talk show with Tom Gresham .
10:12
PM
Mexican music 580 khz ,drifting badly Possibly KGAY ? faded away ,gone by 10:20
During
a recent DX evening 1/15 i caught a new station but have not ID'd it yet
Sun
Jan 10 8:30 PM central 680 Khz
Listened to 2 shows, Father Knows Best at 8:30, then about 8:40 Lum and Abner was on ,heard most of both old radio dramas but then at TOH faded away ,later on i thought i heard WRWR as an ID , but that leads nowhere? I searched several times but no joy ,any help .
Fri
Jan 15 10:30 -11:32 PM central
The
other night i heard several stations mixing it up on 1570 so decided to try and
sort it tonight.
1570
khz KBCV Religous Programing 5000w 3000w Hollister Mo. 497 miles
1570
XERF 'La Poderosa' Translation = The powerful,
100,000w Cludad Acuna Coahuila 918 miles (not sure why it took so long to
log this one? should have been easy with 1KW? , but it does'nt get here that
well either).
Both
mixing with 1570 Khz CKMW 'ckmw country 1570' 10,000w Morden Manitoba 466
miles
Then
after studying my logs from this week i had Tues Jan 129:46 PM central
560
Khz KMON 'Big Sky Country 560' 5000w Great Falls Mont. 709
miles very clear ID then into the mush.
Sat
Jan 16 11:15-12:00 PM central
1440
Khz Very strong signal covering 30 Khz with Spanish Music etc. First few
songs where modern salsa type ,with even a kind of Rap song the last few songs i
heard where slow almost religous like? The announcer talked very fast but i did
pick out Radio Espresso? or Espressa ? after he said it a few times . No idea
about direction ,several likely candidates on the net.
Got
IT!
Sun
Jan 17 6:30 PM
1440
khz KELG 'La Estacion de la Familia ' Spanish Christian
800w day 500w night Manor Tx. 890 miles .
And
earler Today, 4:39 PM ;
1440
khz KMAJ ' The big Talker 1440 kmaj' 5000w 1000w Topeka Ks.
With Money Talk with Bob Brinker and adds. Both mixing with and unid ESPN
station.
I've
been at my radio every night for about a week, not a lot of new stuff but did
have a few ,anyway Last 2 nights i parked on a freq.that i had heard several
stations mixing on ,just to see if i could make somthing out of the mush ,last
night 1/20 i listened for 4 hours till my energy gave out, but was rewarded with
KYYW 1470 khz 'Classic country 1470' Abilene Tx 5000w day 1000w night
There are three more stations here, a SS and a Gospel which are both Unid and
KWSL from Sioux City Ia. maybe i'll get them yet?
Thur.
Jan 21 8:05 -8:56 Pm central
910
khz KPOF 'The point of Faith' with Adventures in Odyssey 5000w 1000w 380
m.
910
khz WAKO Adult contemporary Music 500w 50 w Lawrenceville Ill.
630 m.
910
khz WSUI National Public Radio 500w 4000w Iowa City Ia. 370 m.
950
khz KWOS 'News Radio 950' 5000w 500w Jefferson City Mo. 433 m.
1/25
7:20 PM central
1300
Khz WBOW 'ESPN Sports Radio '500w Day 75 w Night Terra Haute Ind. 621
miles and State # 28
1300
Khz KCSF 'Sports Animal 1300' 5000 w D 1000 w N Colorado Springs Co. 408
miles
Then
cause Kevin gave a heads -up on 1040 IBOC
1030
KCWS 'The Light' Southern Gospel station 5000w D 500w N Blue
Springs Mo.
Still
no idea What's on 1300 Playing Spanish songs Etc. have to wait for conditions to
favor that freq. i guess .
Somtimes
you get a small phrase but nothing else ,the other night i heard clearly ,(Utah's
710) ,several stations mixing there but cant find anything about that so.
The
dial was much quieter tonight ,suprising after 2 days of wind above 30 Mph?
Tue
Jan 26 I got home in time to work the grey line for a change;
4:24
PM
1090
KMXA 'La Tricolor' 50,000w D 500w N Aurora Colo. 372 m TOH ID 4:50
PM
1090
WAQE 'Sports Talk 1090' 5000w Rice Lake Wisc. 403 m ID just before sign
off. 5:01 PM
1140
KZMQ 'Real Country AM 1140' 10,000w Greybull Wyo. 492 m 5:25 PM
1180
KOFI 'News/Talk/Oldies' 50,000w D 10,000w N Kalispell Mont. 856 m
5:56 PM
1190
KPHN 'Radio Disney 1190' 5000w D 500w N Kansas City Mo. 313 m 7:24
PM
1270
WKBF 'La Jefa' 5000w Rock Island Ill. 417 m 7:59 PM
1580
KMIK 'Radio Disney' 50,000w Tempe Az. 952 m The
usual disney stuff , but a long way from here and over the mountains ,I bet
California comes to me soon?
1200 KYOO MO Bolivar 1/7 1949 ELT -
Heard while WOAI's pregame coverage on the UT Football Network took a deep fade.
Out of George Jones & Tammy
Wynette classic "We're Gonna Hold On" into ID: "Real Country
Radio, 94.1 and 1200 AM, KYOO", then into Alabama's "The
Closer You Get". Shouldn't this station have been long gone by
this point in the evening? (RD-NE)
1220
WSLM IN Salem 1/7 1730 ELT - Atop semi-local KJAN with a local
"trading post"
type show that mentioned the 812 area code in several phone numbers. No
ID, but this is the only thing on this frequency in 812. No sign of WLPO, which
is usually the first thing I get at sunset skip on 1220.
(RD-NE)
840
WKTR VA Earlysville - 01/09/10 0400 - Sports news and information. Good signal
with slight fades in the null of WHAS in Louisville, KY. "AM 840, WKTR,
Charlottesville." and "ESPN Radio and ESPN Radio.com".
(IEN-GA)
1/12
Freezing
your toes off in Arctic Lapland may not be everyone's idea of a great New Year
2010, but for Mika Mäkeläinen and Jari Ruohomäki it was a highlight of the
winter. Join Mika and Jari for a DXpedition full of American and Chinese AM
stations. See what an array of 11 antennas, each 1 kilometer in length, can
capture from all around the world. A report of the 287th DXpedition to
Lemmenjoki in Finland has been published at
http://www.dxing.info/dxpeditions/lem287rep.dx
1540
KGBC TX Galveston; noted back at 2030z with M dj in EG "This is Butterboy
comming from Beijing's West-side" Lite-rock vocal music, mostly from the
70's and 80's,
Note
the daytime pattern-here: http://www.fcc.gov/ftp/Bureaus/MB/Databases/AM_DA_patterns/1156353-96616.pdf
Its
uses 4-towers to funnel its 2.5kW mostly toward downtown Houston. This is
260-miles from me as the Crow flies (Wiseblood-TX 01/30/2010)
1500
KANI TX Wharton; 2050z black gospel vocals, not bad for 500 watts, 230
miles daytime skirting the gulf "Great Gospel 1500" (Wiseblood-TX
01/30/2010)
1580
KXZZ LA Lake Charles; "Z-16 The Classic Soul Station" 2055z old
school & some hip-hop. 1kW at 400 miles in null of KIRT-Mission.
Look
at the Night Time pattern http://www.fcc.gov/ftp/Bureaus/MB/Databases/AM_DA_patterns/314348-23425.pdf
Looks
kind of Mickey-Mouse to me! but most of its Night-time signal goes
out over the gulf, so I should hear this one pretty well evenings (Wiseblood-TX
01/30/2010)
970 WCHN Norwich NY, 1/28 0700, caught a "AM 970 WCHN" ID at 0700, then back into the hash. No program details heard, but they are supposed to have a standards format. A 221-mile catch on the DT-200VX barefoot.
Well
I finally I got to get some time behind the ULR last night. Unfortunatly at 20
states it only gets harder to get new states, so the focus at Monitoring Station
KOH8IG / SWLR-RN037, to logging stations for 100 stations heard award. All were
heard using a Sony SRF-49 Barefoot.
Date:
01/23/10 Time: 0130-0200 UTC Frequency: 940 KHz Call: WMAC
Location: Macon, Georgia Signal:
poor, was fighting WFAW, in Fort Arkinson, WI some moments clear and gone the
next. Power D/N: 50Kw / 10Kw AMP: 446 Mi Heard: rerun of fridays
Sean Hannity Show, a credit repair commercial, Station ID at 0200 UTC.
Date:
1/22/10 Time: 0200-0300 UTC Frequency: 940 Khz Call: WFAW Location: Fort
Arkinson, WI Signal: Poor, station was fighting WMAC, Macon, Georgia, in and out
with lots of noise.
Power
D/N: 500w / 550w AMP: 334 Mi Heard: Basket Ball game between Wisconsin and
Minnesota, TOH ID at 0300.
Date:
1/22/10 Time: 0300-0305 UTC Frequency: 950 Khz Call: WWJ Location: Detroit,
MI
Signal:
Fair Power D/N: 50Kw AMP: 203 MI Heard: News and ID
Date:
01/22/10 Time: 0311 UTC Frequency: 970 Khz Call: WFUN Location: Ashtabula, OH
Signal:
Fair Power D/N: 5 Kw / 1 Kw AMP: 241 Mi Heard: Cleveland Cavs Basketball game
and station ID
Date:
1/22/10 Time: 0324 UTC Frequency: 1000 Khz Call: WMVP Location: Chicago, IL
Signal:
Good Power D/N: 50 Kw AMP: 239 Mi Heard: Chicago bulls game and a station ID
Date:
01/22/10 Time: 0343 UTC Frequency: 1010 Khz Call: WINS Location: NY, NY Signal:
Fair was mixing with CFRB Power D/N: 50 Kw AMP: 546 Mi Heard: Talk Show about
health care debate and station ID
Date:
01/22/10 Time: 0357 UTC Frequency: 1020 Khz Call: KDKA Location: Pittsburg, PA
Signal:
Poor- Fair Power D/N: 50 Kw AMP: 233 Mi Heard: Commericals, Station ID for TOH
Date:
01/22/10 Time: 0400 UTC Frequency: 1050 Khz Call: CHUM Location: Toronto, ON
Canada Signal: Very Good Power D/N: 50 Kw AMP: 384 Mi Heard: CP- 24 News
Date:
01/22/10 Time: 0324 UTC Frequency: 1080 Khz Call: WKJK Location: Louisville, Ky
Signal:
Poor lots of electrical noise Power D/N: 10Kw / 1Kw AMP: 121 Mi Heard:
Comercials and a Station ID for the BOH
Date:
01/22/10 Time: 0335 UTC Frequency: 1090 Khz Call: WCRA ? Location: Effingham, IL
Signal:
Poor with washing noise in and out. Power D/N: AMP: 232 Mi
Heard:
News, WX and station ID
1/25
Well
what a difference a day makes!!!! I reported that the night before I was having
trouble verifying a logging where I thought, I heard WRCA on 1090 KHZ in the
2008 of the RCA AM log book it listed it as a daytime station in Effingham, IL.
Problem
is that the FCC's AM Radio Query shows that WRCA's on 1330 KHz in New York
state!! I then put in the call sign in the search engine and I was taken
straight to their web site. So now I'm really confused and frustrated, so the
logging has been struck from my log. BUMMER!!! :(
So as I left the radio on 1090 KHZ, when I called it quits for the night. The
next evening at local sunset, around 1700 (L) this time of the year, I turned on
the radio, still on 1090 KHz, I heard a woman preaching in the Southern
Baptist style. The audio would be very good at first, then wash out in a wall of
heavy static. As the BOH came around at 2222 UTC, the audio came back strong,
just to hear something made me practically do a back flip !! A very clear ID of
KAAY!!!! In my hunt for states heard award, I was obsessed that I couldn't get
anything from Arkansas. Most of the stations in the state are relatively low
power and leaving KAAY as the only powerhouse station, but it's radiation
pattern left much to be desired in rearguards to Ohio. KAAY's major lobes are
pointed N-NW to S-SE. And all attempts to log anything failed miserably. But low
and behold something happened propagation wise last night, and I caught it!!!
I'm still pinching myself. But that wasn't the end.
As I was tuned, around I caught WTAM on 1100 KHz in Cleveland, OH, one for the
ULR heard log, but nothing earth shattering. Then I tuned to 1110 KHz, I heard a
good signal with a "rewind" of the Clark Howard show. As the station
ID at TOH (2300 UTC), came around, My mouth fell open,................ KFAB,
Omaha, Nebraska!!!!! :) Talking about lightning striking twice!!! How could I
get so lucky??:) :)
So that raises my state count to 22 states heard. As I mentioned earlier that I
struck the WRCA" off the log, and I have another logging thats a trouble
maker. I logged WLOD on 1140 KHZ playing a sysyndicatedountry music show
called "The Road". Problem is the RCA Log and FCC Query show it as a
Daytime only, 1 Kw with religious format. Trying to look for WLOD's website
shows it's website is down. So does anybody know more if the station has changed
operating hours and format??
Then I caught WCFO on 1160 KHZ, out of East Point, Georgia. I looked up WCFO and
again both publications show it as a daytimer, but when I looked up the stations
website, it shows they operate 24 Hours, 7 days a week. The only thing a miss
was the show schedule was supposed to be a bubusinessalk show.But it wouldn't be
the first time, some body didn't show up to the studio so they put a
"canned" show in it's place. But I'm very confident that I'll
claim this one as verified.
So I got a couple others so I give it to you from the top............
Date:1/23/10
Time: 2222 UTC Frequency: 1090 Call: KAAY Location: Little Rock, AR
Signal:
Poor to Fair, would be clear one minute and noise the next Power D/N: 50 Kw AMP:
555 Mi Heard: YL preaching, BOH ID and Stress and anxiety commercial
Date:
01/23/10 Time: 2230-2257 UTC Frequency: 1100 Khz Location: WTAM Signal:
Poor-Fair
Power:
50 Kw AMP: 190 Mi Heard: Sports Talk about boxing, and then TOH ID
Date:
1/23/10Time: 2300 UTC Frequency: 1110 Khz Call: KFAB Location: Ohmaha , NE
Signal: Fair fading in and out Power D/N: 50 Kw AMP: 630 Mi Heard: Fox news, wx and TOH ID
Date:
1/23/10 Time: 0023 UTC Frequency: 1110 Khz Call: WBT Location: Charlotte, NC
Signal:
Fair Power D/N: 50 Kw AMP: 353 Mi Heard: Clark Howard rewind, commercials, BOH
ID (at 2432 UTC)
Date:
01/23/10 Time: 0032 UTC Frequency: 1130 Khz Call: KHWK Location: Sherevport, LA
Signal:
Fair Power D/N: 50Kw AMP: 719 Mi Heard: CW music, Commericals, TOH ID
Date:
01/23/10 Time: 0104 - 0133 UTC Frequency: 1160 Khz Call: WCFO Location:
East Point, GA Signal: Poor Power: 1Kw ? AMP: 406 Mi Heard: Laura Ingram show
rewind
Date:
01/23/10 Time: 0034-0103 UTC Frequency: 1140 Khz Call: WLOD Location: Loudon, TN
Signal:
Poor Power D/N: 1 Kw AMP: 264 Mi Heard: CW music, commericals, TOH ID
1/29
As
I was tuning around on my SRF-49 I heard the last words from CINW on 940 KHz as
the station management apologized for their going of the air. I was shocked to
hear it come out of the muck of interfering stations for the last minute of
operation at 2359 UTC. It makes my first station in the Quebec, Provence Canada.
It's too bad that it was as the station was driving the last nail while boarding
up the windows. :(
Date:01/29/10
Time: 2303 UTC Frequency: 860 Khz Call: CJBC Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Signal: Very Good Power D/N:50 Kw AMP: 384 Mi Heard: FF OM with TOH ID and news
Date:01/29/10
Time:2306-2330 UTC Frequency: 930 Khz Call: WHON Location:Centerville, IN
Signal:Fair
Washed in and out. Power D/N: 500w / 114 w AMP: 44 Mi Heard:The Jason Lewis Show
and Indiana High School athletics update
Date:01/29/10
Time:2359 UTC Frequency:940 Khz Call: CINW Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Signal: POOR , was fighting WMAC and an UNID'd third station. Power D/N:50 Kw
AMP:
681Mi Heard:OM in EE making announcement that the station was shutting down a 7
PM local time, transmission was cut in mid sentence.
Date:01/30/10
Time: 0320-0340 UTC Frequency: 1150 Khz Call: WMST Location: Mount Sterling, Ky
Signal:Good, but mix with WLOC audio Power D/N: 2500 Kw / 53w AMP: 104 Mi Heard:
WMST ID, but mixed with WLOC C&W music.
|
Date:
01/30/10 Time: 0320-0340 UTC Frequency: 1150 Khz Call: WLOC Location:
Munfordville, Ky
Signal: Good but mixed with WMST audio. Power D/N: 1000w / 61w AMP: 181 Mi
Heard:
Varouis classic western songs, BeReady.gov
commecial |
Date:
01/30/10 Time: 0620 UTC Frequency: 1540 Khz Call: KXEL Location: Waterloo, IA
Signal: Good when nulling UNID station interference Power D/N: 50 Khz AMP: 472
Mi Heard: 2X OM on Talk Show dicussing politics and a announcement for the
Midnight Radio Network
12 January
Is HUGE, Heard playing Def Fleppard - The Show Must Go On
followed by Man talking seriously in Czech... Best on 269 in AM Narrow mode !
NEW !
LW signals are huge, on 171 I have Morocco and Russia and Morocco
has dropped power, but there are many other ones to check...
Also, on Saturday night an electricity outage bought
ABOVE-average Trans-Atlantic LW BC condx... More on that during the next few
days !
153 Germany DLF, Donebach / Algeria RTA Radio Wahad, Bechar JAN
10 0331 UTC - Arabic programming mixed with jazz music. Good with nothing in the
way of noise thanks to an electricity blackout ! (Chiochiu-QC)
225 POLAND Polski Radio 1, Solec Kujawski JAN
13 0559 UTC - Time pips, then ID "Polski Radio Warshov, program
?" (I don't speak Polish), then into news. Very good signal, best reception
ever ! Semi-regular, though they seldom fade up strongly ! Heard on
the Grundig G5 ULR / PK LW loop combo ! (Chiochiu-QC)
270 CZECH REPUBLIC Cezky Rozhlas - Radio Zurnal JAN
13 0536 UTC - playing US pops and male clearly speaking in Czech. It's the 2nd
or 3rd I have audio on 269 in AM Narrow mode on the Sangean ACS-818 CST / PK LW
loop combo, though never with such a good SIO 422 ! (Chiochiu-QC)
2485
AUSTRALIA ABC-NT (Katherine) 1115 Stronger than
usual signal noted with pop music program, Bee Gees (How Deep is Your Love) to
OM/YL co-program hosts . also checked //s on 2310 (Alice), 2325 (Tenant), with
2325 being the best. (1/17 Barton-AZ)
2850
NORTH KOREA Voice of Korea 0948 march music, the
usual , but off after 1000. Back with recheck after 1430 with OM anncr,
more music. (1/20 Barton-AZ)
3100
UNID. an uncle Harry "rasper" , extremely strong, 0915 .
(1/20 Barton-AZ)
2485
AUSTRALIA ABC - NT service 1000 OM
anncr with news, news analysis after.
Just
above b/ground noise , thunderstorm static crashes. heard at same signal level
and condx on recheck at 1430 with YL anncr and current events stuff . (1/20
Barton-AZ)
3350
NORTH KOREA S. Pyongyang Perple's Serv. 1445
same type programming as 2850 DPRK log, but not // . (1/20 Barton-AZ)
6035
JAPAN R. Japan NHK 1628 with tuning signal and
into listed Korean at BOH.
hung
in there for a bit, then began slow fadeout that left only a trace by
1700.
(1/ 22 Barton-AZ)
6175
CHINA CPBS 1700 in Chinese w/ vocal music and male announcer
trading off.
(1/22
Barton-AZ)
9835
JAPAN R. Japan NHK 1700 OM anncr with "Radio
Nippon NHK, into Japanese lang. newscast . (1/22 Barton-AZ)
9580
AUSTRALIA Radio Australia 1900 with program
promos, fanfare, into news by male announcer. (1/22 Barton-AZ)
13770
CUBA Radio Havana Cuba on at 1922 with peppy salsa
music, OM anncr at BOH with good ID. (1/22 Barton-AZ)
3215
USA WWCR Nashville, TN 0900 with "Into
the Blue" , pgm of bluegress music.references to http://www.bluegrassradio.com/
.
(1/23
Barton-AZ)
3925
JAPAN R. Nikkei 0830 mixing both Japanese and
English, program re : JAL (Japan Airlines) bankrkluptcy . (1/23 Barton,AZ)
3350
COSTA RICA R. exterior d. Espana (via relay) at 0216 OM
in SP ; 0245 with music program . acoustic Spanish guitar to ID by OM on the
hour. (1/24 Barton-AZ)
Friday 01.01.10
9790
CHINA RADIO INT (via Cuba) at 0332 English, YL and OM ancrs. News f/by
"Life in China" prgm. 55455.
9715
DEUTSCHE WELLE (GERMANY) at 1545 Russian, YL and OM ancrs. 34343.
9600
CHINA RADIO INT at 1608 English, OM ancr with "News and Reports."
43343.
9610
R. CANADA INT at 1615 English, OM ancr. Report on 2010 Wx according to the
Farmers Almanac. F/by song "God Loves The Child." 44233.
9535
R. JAPAN at 1628 Japanese, OM ancr playing music. 44343.
9835
R. JAPAN at 1715 Japanese, OM playing music incl some jazz. 44344.
Saturday
02.01.10
6145
R. JAPAN at 0817-0830* Russian, OM ancr. Hrd repeat of musical verse. Sounded
like the making of a song f/by the complete song. 54344.
9580
R. AUSTRALIA at 0905 English, OM ancrs playing music. 54444.
9765 R. NEW ZEALAND INT at 0909 English, YL and OM with Nx and Wx. Classical selection by Dvorák followed. 44344.
**
CHINA. Firedrake Jan 2: 8400 fair with flutter, 9000 very poor, nothing audible
on 10210, 11300 or 11350 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
CHINA [non]. 7405, CRI English, via Urumqi, EAST TURKISTAN, Jan 2 at 1531 but
with lite pulsing QRM from the DentroCuban Jamming Command, which failed to
close down completely with nemesis Radio Martí at 1400: Commies vs Commies!
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
GREECE. 9420, no signal from ERA, Avlis, Jan 2 at 1520 check, tho there was a
poor signal on 15650. Constant VOG monitor John Babbis in Maryland says 9420 has
been missing since Dec 28 when he checks every evening. One of the transmitters
is definitely down. Wolfgang Büschel, however, says 9420 was on and 12105
missing until 1000 Jan 2, then 9420 missing from 1100 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
**
INDIA. 60m had lots of intriguing grayline signals, Jan 1 at 1335 but most of
them were quite weak. These fit for All India Radio: 4800 Hyderabad, 4820
Kolkata, 4840 Mumbai, 4850, 4920. The last, probably Chennai, had S Asian music,
tho Lhasa is also on frequency. 4850 was open carrier at the moment (or very low
mod); would like to think it was AIR Kohima, altho the steady signal makes me
doubt it. 4800 had something SAHing underneath fifth harmonic of my local
KGWA-960. See also TAJIKISTAN.
Walt
Salmaniw, from his Masset BC DXpediton was also hearing a ``big open carrier``
on 4850 around 1735 Dec 29 and 30. One idea: possibly the Alaska DRM transmitter
in non-DRM mode, which was active a couple months ago centered on 4845?? Or some
utility since after all this is a fixed band in NAm (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
**
INDONESIA. 9526, VOI carrier but little modulation detectable, Jan 1 at 1355.
But no carrier at all detectable Jan 2 at 1444.
However,
RRI Jakarta, 9680 had good signal Jan 2 at 1447 with drama, singing, cut off
rudely and abruptly at 1457* (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
IRAN. 9575, GIRI in Russian, Jan 2 at 1446, S9+18 but just barely modulated!
Same at 1517 recheck. What in the world are they doing at Sirjan? Might as well
turn it off if they won`t modulate it. This is 330 degrees, so also USward
accounting for the strong signal. Well, if we can`t hear Russian there, tune
down to 9570 for PHILIPPINES (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
JAPAN [and non]. 5955, NHKWNRJ, Sat Jan 2 at 1414 unusually playing classical
music, a movement from one of Vivaldi`s Seasons. Quickly switched to Sackville
relay 11705 for much better reception. Turned out this was a `live` performance
by a Japanese string quintet named `Seasons` (but the final S is silent; go
figure); players were interviewed briefly – all young women and the extra is a
violinist. Then played a somewhat more modern opus, ``Twenti-First Century
Schizoid Man``; an unrelated song by some singer; back to the SQ for their
version of a Nirvana tune, ``Smells Like Teen Spirit``. Wow, I really dig string
quartets/quintets which transcend classical and modern, as pioneered by Kronos.
Outro:
this was a special `live` concert on Pop-Up Japan, more of same next weeks in
January. Went back and listened to this week`s 19-minute audio: http://www.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/radio/asx/saturday.asx
Access
to all past week`s programs:
http://www.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/radio/program/index.html
(Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
PHILIPPINES. While Iran was failing to modulate its Russian hour on 9575,
Russian could be heard clearly on adjacent 9570, Jan 2 at 1521. The Shiites
better watch out lest they lose their audience to the Catholix: it`s R. Veritas
Asia, Philippines, carrying the R. Blagovest program at 1500-1557 (Glenn Hauser,
OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
RUSSIA. 6075, R. Rossii, Pet/Kam, Jan 1 at 1400 timesignal 4 seconds late, and
8GAL overlapped it; see UNIDENTIFIED. RR`s motorboating carrier remained on past
1402, but no programming unlike yesterday/year (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
**
SLOVAKIA [and non]. 6055, Jan 2 at 1432, poor and fluttery signal in German, so
has to be R. Slovakia International as scheduled, 305 degrees, unusual time for
C Europe-to-CNAm, but apparently close enough to grayline; and despite two other
broadcasters you would expect to be dominating, per Aoki, so it`s odd there was
no sign of these, altho as far as I can tell they are still scheduled:
R.
Liberty, Turkmen, 300 degrees via Thailand,
CRI,
Cambodian, 200 degrees via Nanning
R.
Nikkei is never on 6055 this late, altho closing time depends on day of week.
WRTH shows it until 1415 on Fridays only; 1400* some other days, while Aoki
shows B-09 until 1400 on Fridays too (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
TAJIKISTAN. 60m had lots of intriguing grayline signals, Jan 1 at 1335 but most
of them were quite weak. See also INDIA. A pair which point to Dushanbe were
4765 and 4975:
4765,
Jan 1 at 1335, weak music, flutter. Only thing known on this frequency now is
Tajik Radio 1 at 2300-2000 per Aoki, 100 kW ND from Yangiyul site. However EiBi
shows the time as 14-11, so by that, would theoretically be off the air when I
was hearing this. But WRTH 2010 sides with the 23-20 version.
4975,
Jan 1 at 1335 with talk in Asian language, 1339 familiar music briefly as theme,
Polovetsian Dances from Borodin's Prince Igor, then other music, fluttery, gone
by 1355. It`s the VOR relay in Pashto/Dari at 13-15, same site and parameters
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
TIBET. 4905, Jan 2 at 1400 Chinese talk and music, flutter, somewhat better than
4920 which is supposed to be // but did not confirm that. The only station
listed on 4905 is PBS Xizang, Lhasa, but it`s supposed to be the first channel,
in Tibetan, // MW 594.
(BTW,
looking up in WRTH 2010 page 143 I see a string of listings on ``595``, between
576 and 594, all of which must be typos for 585. These were correctly 585 in
WRTH 2009.)
Aoki
also shows 4905 with no Chinese, mainly Tibetan except for a bit of English and
Kham. So the Han are encroaching even on their Tibetan-language network? (Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U S A. WTWW did make it on the air in 2009, Central Time, at least: transmitter
first fired up at 0545-0600 UT January 1, 2010, George McClintock tells me, with
15 kW on 5755, but just with carrier and squealing tones, like sometimes audible
on WWCR and others, showing that some modules need to be replaced. But did
anyone hear it? No reports have been received yet, nor have I heard it, so this
is info, not a log.
He
says the FCC has been extremely helpful, willing to authorize program test
authority upon filing of the licence application by e-mail; but not yet ready
for that.
The
high voltage meter had been wired backwards, so he fixed that. Some other
problems: getting the water pumping properly for the cooling system, but that
and the leaks have now been fixed; a couple bad buttons on the frequency
selection keypad, so only eight funxion instead of ten.
However,
WTWW will surely not need all those, altho George says there are some frequency
issues to be resolved, and would like to try some others besides these two. Yet
to test on other registered frequency, 9480, unknown when. 5755 was on again the
next night, no time given; did anyone catch that?
The
latest as of Jan 2, Saturday morning: ``Now have audio to transmitter. Ran ID
audio on carrier (5755) for about 5 minutes last night before an overload. I
will need to look at this today. Transmitter ran about 35 kW. Tube is mounted in
water and will need to get new water cleaning agent before proceeding forward in
power.``(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U S A. 3325-USB, Navy MARS net, Fri Jan 1 at 2358, NNN0AVT explaining a WinMor
(?) program and then running digital test. Googling indicates this is in the
Kansas/Nebraska area (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U S A [non]. 11715, nothing but Tagalog audible, Jan 2 at 1515, i.e. R. Veritas
Asia, via Vatican at 130 degrees; no trace of robokids underneath even during
modulation pauses, so where is KJES?
WRTH
2010 shows 14-17 on 11715 to NAm, from which you would not know that they rotate
the antenna every hour, from 70 to 350 to 150 degrees, per FCC and Aoki, the
first two hours in English, then Spanish.
350
is certainly unfavorable for here, so we should try during the previous hour
14-15 when it`s supposedly aimed 70 degrees from The Lord`s Ranch, right on
Oklahoma City, but really too close and may be skipping over if really on and
the MUF is adequate; the collision thn is with R. Liberty, Uzbek via Lampertheim,
Germany.
The
70-degree boresight from Vado NM carries on thru Cairo IL, Lexington KY, between
which the first hop should come down best, exiting North America across the
DelMarVa Peninsula, and next hitting land at Dakhla, ex-Villa Cisneros, Western
Sahara. 70 degrees is not used at all on its other frequencies 7555 and 15385.
We
suspect KJES operation is quite irregular. However, tho FCC, HFCC, WRTH and EiBi
all show it daily, no doubt reflecting its authorization, Aoki says it runs M-F
only, and this was a Saturday. In any event, another instance of Vatican
collisions, Catholix vs pseudo-Catholix (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U S A [non]. 11525, fair but fluttery, VOA World News Now, Jan 2 at 1528 with
Today in History, the jam-packed 2-minute segment hourly at this time, announcer
properly pronouncing ``short-lived`` with a long I, since the term derives from
``life``, which is not pronounced ``liff``, and whenever that happens I find it
worthy of note.
9310
at 1534 Jan 2, VOA, Art Chimes introducing science-technology magazine show,
``Our World``, // 11525 but about one second ahead of it. 9310 is 283 degrees
from Tinang, PHILIPPINES, while 11525 is 25 degrees from Iranawila, SRI LANKA
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
URUGUAY. Since Horacio Nigro had confirmed it reactivated two hours earlier, I
looked again for R. Sarandí on 6045, Jan 2 at 0552. I could detect an extremely
weak carrier, and perhaps some music at 0557 before blasted away by KBS/Sackville
*0559:45. But there should not be any carrier if the CX is pure SSB; is it?
Equally unlikely possibilities on 6045 at this hour: Zimbabwe and XEXQ. BTW,
Aoki still shows KBS at 0600 as only half an hour tho it was expanded to a full
hour some months ago, so forget about Uruguay until 0700; in fact, forget about
it until 0800 as KBS runs another hour via UK. Yes, this is purely an unID log,
but it concerns Uruguay (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
VATICAN [and non]. 9540, Jan 2 at 1445, Asian language poor with BBC Woofferton
QRDRM 9540-9545-9550. Listed on 9540 is Vatican in Urdu during this semihour. I
could avoid most of the DRM by sidetuning below 9540, but should I have to? Of
course, Vatican emits some DRM transmissions too, so they can hardly complain
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
BRAZIL. Some Brazilian DXers are reporting that RNA 11780 must be on a low-power
transmitter such as 7.5 kW. I suspected they had mixed it up with the inactive
R. Guaíba on 11785. That odd power is a common one for some private Brazilian
SW stations, from 6 to 11 MHz bands, if you search on it in Aoki, which also
shows 7.5 in 11780! Possibly they have a backup to the regular 250 kW unit,
and/or possibly Brazilians are in the skip zone leading to unwarranted
assumptions that 11780 is low-powered. But it`s Aoki which is certainly
mistaken.
I
suppose some manufacturer long ago was making SW transmitters of this power, and
also sold a couple to Radio New Zealand, which was their rating until the 50/100
kW units at Rangitaiki went in. WRTH also shows 7.5 for Brazilians on 6-11 MHz
bands, but none on trop bands except one inactive on 4945, R. Progresso.
Reception
of RNA 11780 varies widely here in the nightmiddle, but I attribute that to
propagation. On Jan 4 at 0550, a UT Sunday when it is on all-night rather than
cutting on sometime between 0630 and 0700, RNA 11780 was inbooming at S9+20 and
could not possibly be only 7.5 kW. Normally it far outstrips the signal levels
of any other 25m Brazilians that may be audible (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
**
CHINA. Firedrake Jan 3 at 1427: good on 8400, JBA on 9000, not audible on 10 or
11 MHz frequencies.
Time
was omitted in yesterday`s report, so try again: Firedrake Jan 2 at 1435: 8400
fair with flutter, 9000 very poor, nothing audible on 10210, 11300 or 11350.
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
INDIA. AIR National Channel, 9425, fair Jan 3 at 1430 with news in English by
well-understood YL, including at 1432 fog disrupting train service around New
Delhi, and along with cold weather blamed for dozens of deaths. 1435 after brief
Hindi announcement, into talk by OM, and I had trouble deciding whether it was
English with a heavy Hindi lilt, or really Hindi. // 9470 if on was not audible
between stronger 9465 and 9475 signals.
9870,
AIR VBS, Sunday Jan 3 at 1442 with enthusiastic drama, including music produxion,
and also hum which normally is not heard on this frequency. Was the hum on the
program recording only? 1445 Vividh Bharati ID, sirens, SFX, music; 1451 ads in
Hindi, first one for ``Super Het`` ! Is that a radio receiver brand? If not,
what else could it be? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LSITENING DIGEST)
**
OKLAHOMA. A local mixing product no one else will hear, but the computation may
be of interest, applicable elsewhere. 2250 kHz, Jan 3 at 0615, extremely weak
modulation in the noise level, but quite steady, making me suspect it`s local,
rather than a 3 x 750 DX harmonic. As always, time to check my only two strong
MW locals, KGWA 960 and KCRC 1390. Yes, sure enough, 2250 audio matches 960, and
it is mixing with something else, but how does it get on 2250? Out comes the
calculator: 3 x 1390 = 4170 (where KCRC is always audible with its weak third
harmonic). Subtract 2250 from 4170 = 1920, which is the second harmonic of KGWA,
where it is also audible weakly. So we have 2250 as the difference between the
third harmonic of KCRC and the second of KGWA. The two sites are about 5 km
apart, so how do they mix? Externally (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U S A. Will Martin reports that the only known SW airtime for DXing with Cumbre,
Sunday 1200 on WHRI 9410, was replaced by a preacher on Dec 27, so I checked Jan
3 at 1220: yes, preacher, no Marie.
However,
searching on the WHR website by program host, ``Marie Lamb``, it now shows the
1200 broadcast on 9410 as Saturday instead of Sunday. Previously, we had
confirmed that when it was on Sunday at this time, it was not on Saturday, tho
listed for both. Readout now claims 18 other airings per week on WHRI, and 9 on
T8WH, all of which are probably imaginary, but maybe on corresponding webcasts/satellite
feeds. If anyone axually hears DXing with Cumbre on SW, which it seems is no
longer produced every week, perhaps leading to many of its scheduled times
missing, please let us know (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U S A. The US-based Adventist World Radio finally has a US station carrying its
programming: WINB. Sunday Jan 3 at 1438, when 9265 was on the air unlike
weekdays, concluding Your Story Hour with contact info, mentioned 3ABN (7DA`s
Three Angels Broadcasting Network; actually I am not sure how closely related
are AWR and 3ABN, mainly on satellite and as feeder to domestic outlets. Could
be they have doctrinal differences like the ``Historic Adventist`` ex-WVHA
crowd? But YSH is a longtime Adventist program carried by AWR.)
Trouble
is, YSH is not on the WINB program schedule, even tho it was just updated
December 6: http://www.winb.com/schedule.htm
nor is anything like it on the programs by title. They also still unabashedly
include Tony Alámo, convicted child-sex predator, sentenced to 175 years in
prison.
BTW,
despite the December update, WINB still thinx Eastern Time is 4 hours behind UT.
I suppose that makes the ET listings correct as EST, with all the UT times shown
as one hour off (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U S A. 13845, WWCR at 1555 Sunday Jan 3 was carrying PMS // 11775 Anguilla,
instead of Brother Scare, who supposedly is 7 days at 15-19, as we also heard on
a corrected announcement a few days ago at the 1500 changeover.
WWCR
15825 had a good altho not solid signal, at 1557 Jan 3, so I tried 18770 just in
case, the second harmonic of nearby WWRB 9385, and there it was, Brother Scare
clearly readable, so that compensates for losing out on 13845. No sign of
sporadic E on VHF, unfortunately (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U S A [and non]. 5745, WYFR in English, fair Jan 3 at 0607 mixed with pulses
from the DentroCuban Jamming Command, which only *needs* to jam 5745 at 11-14
when R. Martí is using it! WYFR is scheduled 05-10, and runs such a risk by
daring to use an elsewhen jammed channel. WWRB is also authorized on 5745 at
21-04, but I think they are not using it so long, perhaps because of more
offtime jamming? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
ANGUILLA [and non]. 11775 missing Jan 5 at 1411, helping NHKWNRJ English on
11780 via Rampisham to be clearly heard, with barely a sign of Brasília
co-channel either. DGS was poorly audible on 13845 WWCR at 1517, again instead
of Brother Scare.
The
Africans must be rejoicing over the absence of Anguilla. Recheck 1758, VOA
Portuguese in the clear on 11775, which is São Tomé, 100 kW, 138 degrees
toward Moçambique at 17-18, about to switch to Botswana 1800-1830, 100 kW, 350
degrees, per HFCC.
Strange:
there are no Portuguese-speaking areas at that angle from Botswana; can`t be for
Angola or Moçambique, but maybe Cabo Verde, Guiné-Bissau? However, Aoki shows
the angle as 10 degrees, even further from former Portuguese colonies, and
extended M-F only for that semi-hour (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
CHINA. Bands above 12 MHz are usually dead here in the nightmiddle, but Jan 5 at
0617 was hearing CRI English on 13645, about two sex behind Sackville 6115; fair
signal. A strange opening as 13645 is via Xi`an at 190 degrees, 06-08.
Also
had Mandarin at 0618 on 13750, which is CRI via Kunming at 177 degrees, also
06-08.
I
ascended to 15 MHz band, kept hunting for signals, and at 0619 on 15570 found
something Chinese-sounding non //. That`s listed in Aoki as CNR11, i.e. the
Tibetan service at 01-08, 100 kW, 255 degrees from Baoji-Sifangshan site #724,
and BTW including English at 0530-0600; but closing early on Wednesdays for the
0600 [2 pm local] siesta. Am I really hearing Mandarin-language segments within
nominally Tibetan-language services?
All
of the above are legitimate broadcasts, not jammers! At 0618 I had another non
// Chinese signal on 15665, where RFA is scheduled via Tinian, but more likely
CNR1 jamming. Nothing audible on 17 MHz (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
CHINA. Firedrake Jan 5: at 1417, very poor on 9000. At 1430, JBA on 8400 (Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
CUBA. Even I get bored with tracking the anomalies of Radio Habana Cuba, ignored
lately, but Jan 5 at 0634, 6140 was in Spanish // 6150, 6120, while English was
on 6060, 6010. The previous night, 6140 was in English around this time.
11600,
again with heavy jamming against nothing, Jan 5 at 1601 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
**
INDONESIA. Jan 5 I did not get down to scan 90 meters until 1442, after finding
not much on 60 or 75m, so surprised to hear some weak talk on 3325, fading, ute
QRM on lo side, amounts to only broadcast station on band, CHU also outfaded.
But
on 3325 we are faced with the usual quandary whether it`s R. Buka, Kieta,
Bougainville, PNG, or RRI Palangkaraya, Kalimantan, Indonesia. Going strictly by
schedule in Aoki, PNG is off after 1300 while RRI is on until 1615. WRTH leans
even heavier toward the latter with the same sign-off shown, and not attempting
to show individual Kundu Network station schedules, just 0800-1200v for them
all. A US MW harmonic or mixing product is outruled since it ends in -5.
Atsunori
Ishida, http://www.max.hi-ho.ne.jp/a-ishida/ins/
says RRI runs until 1610v* daily, often with poor modulation, and with Buka QRM
but doesn`t say when that ends. John Wilkins, CO, was also hearing 3325 past
1500 Jan 5, says it was in Indonesian, Palangkaraya. Based on all this I am not
filing this as unidentified as first intended, but as INDONESIA presumed (Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
INDONESIA. VOI still missing from 9526v, Jan 5 at 1415, and presumably also
during the previous hour in English when another Tuesday excursion to
Banjarmasin might have happened.
No,
Atsunori Ishida http://www.max.hi-ho.ne.jp/a-ishida/ins/
reports that 9526v was on the air in English at 1300 Jan 3 and 5 but went off
the air at 1408 and 1405 respectively.
However,
at 1609 there was a 9526/9525 het, one of them with music, so suspect it was
back on at that hour. I wondered if earlier, VOI had switched to 11786v as it
has unpredictably in the past; too much QRM there now to tell.
9680,
RRI at 1446 rated S9+15 on the meter, but Indonesian talk was at quite low
modulation, so this transmitter has problems too. Usually it is sufficient.
I
resolved to listen to VOI online for the Exotic Indonesia show, via http://www.voi.co.id
which switches automatically to http://en.voi.co.id/
--- This was just as frustrating. Live streaming embedded player just sits there
when you hit play. Below it is a header ``VOI AV ON DEMAND`` but cold and
nothing to go with it. Various other linx on the page are dead.
There
is a link to ``VISIT INDONESIA 2009``, so apparently time travel is possible
with Indonesia! Was it a better place to visit last year? Time will tell. At
least if you do that, you know which tourist places to avoid, terrorist attacks
already dated on the historical record.
I
see that ``Dignity`` is an obsession of theirs here too, with a ``Dignity
Forum`` -- goes nowhere; some ``VOI DIGNITORIALS``, and another header with no
content, ``VOI - World Dignified View``. Perhaps they should focus more on
Competence (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
ISRAEL [and non]. 9955, Israel Radio via WRN via WRMI, Jan 5 at 0626;
unfortunately by the time I intuned it was nothing but WRN fill music; must keep
trying to hear Israel from the start 0600 M-F. Trouble is, often inaudible, but
good S9+10 signal tonight, and no jamming; 0630 into RCI relay. Assumed WRMI
still on SSE antenna, but corresponded with super-strong S9+22 signals from WYFR
on 9680, 9715, along with mixing products on 9645, 9750, and plenty strong on
9985, 9355 fundamentals.
13850,
Jan 5 at 1518, Kol Israel direct in Farsi; if I were inside Iran, I would be
threatened with incarceration as a counter-revolutionary for listening to this,
as just heard on RFI news item at 1500 on 15300; other no-no`s being R. Farda,
BBC and VOA. Better signal than weak WWCR overskipping 13845 (Glenn Hauser, OK,
DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
ISRAEL [and non]. 15785.0, Jan 5 at 1545, Hebrew talk; this time Galei Tsahal is
back on frequency unlike 15783.8 Jan 4. Recheck 1602, 15785 totally blotted by
WYFR in Arabic with presumed Christian hymn, unlike the Arabic music you hear on
most stations (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
JAPAN. 5955, Jan 5 at 1436 M&W talking in Burmese about Al-Qa`ida, Mrs.
Clinton, fair signal from NHKWNRJ. Unlike 11705 via Canada, which closes at 1430
following English, 5955 Yamata stays on in Burmese, same antenna, but per Aoki
power drops from 300 to 100 kW, contrary to other listings (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
**
JORDAN [and non]. 11960, Jan 5 at 0623, serious Arabic dialog, one side on the
phone line, when nothing else on band from Mideast, but must be R. Jordan as
scheduled 0500-0715, 500 kW, 350 degrees intended for Europe, but also favoring
WNAm. Music after 0630. Band was more open from Africa, e.g. DW English good on
12045 via Rwanda (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
PHILIPPINES. 11715, RVA via Vatican, Jan 5 at 1523 was back in Tagalog talking
about Pilipinas, unlike English 24 hours earlier. Still no sign of KJES (Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
SAIPAN. Pleased to note that IBB transmitter is back in whack, vs yesterday`s
distorted blobs: Jan 5 at 1423 check weak Vietnamese with normal signal on 9990;
at 1521, Vietnamese also OK on 9725 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
SLOVAKIA [and non]. 6055, checking again for anomalous reception of RSI, Jan 5
at 1433, German weakly audible, but this time atop some weaker music, which
unless that was on the RSI audio, would be from China or Thailand (Glenn Hauser,
OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U S A. 15550-USB, have not been able to hear WJHR for several days now checking
around 1500, nor occasionally later in the day, e.g. 1757 UT Jan 5. Could be on
and just too weak to pull thru the noise level without some enhanced propagation
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
ANTARCTICA. At 1923 UT Jan 6 I am getting a carrier on 15476, but too weak to
surpass my noise level. LRA36 may be (back?) on. Please check, I immediately
posted on the DXLD yg. (No more comparing with RAE on 15345v, as that
transmitter broke down in late October, Gabriel Iván Barrera tells me.) Mark
Schiefelbein, Missouri, tuned in 15476 and confirmed hearing Spanish 1943-2005+,
so it`s clear that Radio Nacional Arcángel San Gabriel is active again (Glenn
Hauser, OK, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1494, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
AUSTRIA. Ö1 confirmed still with token English newscast relayed on SW 6155, Thu
Jan 7 at 0708 after German, first item about the underpants-bomber; tightly
squeezed between Cuba 6150 and CBC 6160. Presumably French followed at 0711 as
per Jan sked discovered by Yimber Gaviría; however, no longer played back on
the evening broadcast to NAm, just German as confirmed by Joe Hanlon, NJ, UT Jan
5 at 0039 on 7325 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
CUBA. The ADXB comprehensive schedule of Spanish SW broadcasts shows R. Rebelde,
5025 at 09-07, i.e. a two-hour break, but I thought it was 24 hours. Sometimes I
am monitoring a bit past 0700, and Jan 7 it was certainly still running with
music at 0707. If it were off, that would clear the frequency for VL8K from
fade-in until its switch to 120m nominally at 0830 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
**
CUBA. RHC missing from 6140, Jan 7 at 0709, while the other 49m frequencies were
nominal, but most of them now QRMed: 6060 English vs Brazil; 6120 distorted
Spanish vs RNW Dutch via Vatican; but 6150 Spanish in the clear. Shortly found
where the 6140 transmitter probably went: 9640, VG in Spanish an echo apart from
6150, historical lecture about a European doctor in the XIX-XX centuries. At
0715, found 11760 still on in Spanish too. 9640 is officially on the RHC
schedule only between 22-24 for the irregular Mesa Redonda show, so is this a
mistake or an experiment? See also UNIDENTIFIED 13770.
DentroCuban
Jamming Command pulses still running on 5980, Jan 7 at 1437, despite R. Martí
finishing with the frequency at 1300.
Noise
jamming, sounding just like DRM, around 7170, Jan 7 at 1438. At first figured it
was part of the Ethiopian/Eritrean radio war, but then it switched to
characteristic DCJC residual pulsing --- in the ham band?? I doubt the Cuban ham
radio federation would dare to object. Perhaps a transmitter gone haywire, spur,
or chasing some exile ham (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
FRANCE. 15300, checking for TURKEY [q.v.], at 1422 Jan 7 colliding with RFI
playing music, and just after Turkey went off, ``RFI Musique`` ID --- a sign
that another strike is in progress as threatened, over massive layoffs. So
expect much more musique on all RFI transmissions which remain on the air (Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
INDIA. 9870, enjoying the AIR VBS Hindi pop music, Jan 7, and at 1454 a familiar
intro riff --- yes! It`s one of our favorites which the late lamented R. Solh,
US psyop service for Afghanistan played every day at exactly the same hour. A
real upbeat tune with great singing, instrumental interludes until 1459. I wish
I knew the title, artist and more details about it. Further proof that a lot of
Solh music was really Indian, probably Bollywood, not Afghan at all (Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
INDONESIA. 3325, still audible with weak music Jan 7 at 1435, only station on
band, presumed RRI Palangkaraya, which is in south central Kalimantan Tengah,
inland from Banjarmasin. Only one or two other Indos are left on 90m, and I
expect before long this one too will wink out, never to be heard again. Ishida
shows only 3345 Ternate, Maluku Utara is still on, until 1500*; but tho also
rated 10 kW, not heard like PK is (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
INDONESIA. 9526-, VOI with music Jan 7 at 1355, only fair signal today; 1401
English ID with usual info including imaginary frequencies 15150 and 11785, off
at 1402:40* intentionally before any transition announcement to Malay hour,
which apparently has been deleted. RRI Jakarta still on 9680 at 1442 with
gamelan and singing (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
IRAN [non]. 13615, WYFR in Spanish, which used to own the frequency, now about
equal level to R. Farda, Jan 7 at 1429 with two IDs, an echo apart from 15410;
and propagational echo also on the 13615 transmission, which at 14-16 is 108
degrees via Lampertheim, GERMANY, while 15410 during same bihour is 95 degrees
via Skelton UK.
There`s
something about Lampertheim, which always has a long-path or severe backscatter
echo also on the VOA English relay, 11985, equally 108 degree azimuth at 14-15
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
TURKEY [and non]. 12035.0, VOT in English during Live from Turkey, Thursday Jan
7 at 1416. Usual distorted audio from this ailing Çakirlar transmitter, and lo
audible het, but not clear whether that is from inside or outside the TRT
transmitter. Too poor to get anything out of the program. VOR via Samara at
14-15, 250 kW at 130 degrees is on 12035 in HFCC, but not in WRTH, Aoki or EiBi,
so may be wooden.
Checked
// 15300 at 1422 as final VOT IS was playing, fast SAH with RFI and off, so that
frequency is useless too due to collision not avoided in poor B-09 planning,
while there are plenty of clear spots on 19m (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
**
U S A. Not hearing KJES on 11715 in the 14-17 period for quite some time, I was
also checking for any sign of KJES on 15385 during its scheduled 19-21 UT
broadcast, Jan 6 at 1923: No. Nor was there anything on 7555 at 0241 Jan 7,
where KJES is scheduled 0200-0330 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1494, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U S A. 9955, WRMI both propagating and unjammed, Jan 7 at 0715, discussion about
Czechia, and this semihour is R. Prague via WRN, so yet another bonus broadcast
on WRMI (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
BRAZIL [and non]. 11749.9 or so, het with 11750.0, Jan 8 at 0648. The
off-frequency one is surely Brazilian, at 0649 with Portuguese singing. PWBR
`2009` shows 11749.8 for R. Voz Missionária, Florianópolis SC, which I think
is correct despite LA-DX showing this only as a future plan on 11750, while also
listing separately what is no doubt the same transmitter under its previous
identity, but showing the frequency variation range:
11749.8v
R Marumby, Florianópolis SC [2258-2319] (49.8-50.0) Mar08 B // 9665 (irr)
11750
R Voz Missionária, Florianópolis SC [FUTURE PLANS]
Jul08 L (a)"Voz
Missionária" // 5870v, 9665
As
for 11750.0, Aoki and HFCC show three possibilities at this hour:
CNR1
at 37 degrees, i.e. USward; CRIENG via Albania; and BBC Hausa via Ascension.
25m
was quite open over night paths from Brazil, with signals ranging from very
strong RNA 11780 to moderate 11815, 11925, to weaker carriers on 11765, 11895.
Cuba was also VG on 11760, not always the case when longer skip is in.
I
had not noticed 11749.9v recently, but there was that het again 17 hours later
at 2344 when it was definitely abutting CNR1 which starts at 2200 from
Shijiazhuang 723 site (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
CHINA. Firedrake Jan 8 at 2348: good on 9000, JBA on 8400, not on 10210, 11300
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also BRAZIL
**
CYPRUS [and non]. 15495-15520, OTH radar pulsing, presumed from here, Jan 8 at
1445. Bothered something weak on 15520, presumably YFR in Hindi via UAE as
scheduled. It seems Kuwait is no longer using 15505, fortunately (Glenn Hauser,
OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
ECUADOR [and non]. 11903 and 11937 the approximate centers of the mushy FMy
spurblobs from HCJB via CVC Chile in Portuguese, Jan 8 at 2343. They do vary
somewhat, previously around 11900 and 11940 or 11902 and 11938, but that`s no
excuse.
BTW,
Allen Graham tells me HCJB`s Spanish mailbag show Club de Oyentes, and
consequently the sub-program within it, Aventura Diexista, are being cancelled
after January, due to declining audiences. CDO is only on the 6050 Pichincha
transmitter, which is NOT being closed down as some rumors had it, while ADX
gets plenty of play via WRMI. DX Partyline will continue to be produced, also
aired via WRMI et al. (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
GUINEA. 7125 at 0653 Jan 8, French interview on phone about political situation
there, so RTG again on the air in the morning, outstanding sorethumbly in
hamband (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
INDONESIA. 9526v, Jan 8 at 1357 tuned in time to confirm VOI carrier was on
today hetting 9530, but very poor and already off at next check 1402. Has the
Malay service formerly at 14-15 been dropped, or moved elsewhen? (Glenn Hauser,
OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
IRAN. 9585, Jan 8 at 1432 Qur`an, 1434 into talk I thought was Urdu, poor-fair
signal, much better than Iran`s Russian service at same time on 9575, which is
just barely modulated as we have noted several dates recently, but better signal
strength.
9585
also turns out to be VIRI, per Aoki in Hindi at 1430-1528, 500 kW, 102 degrees
from Sirjan site, the same one as on 9575, 500 kW, 330 degrees (Glenn Hauser,
OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
TURKEY. 9410 will always be a quintessential BBCWS frequency to me, dating back
several sesquidecades, not too long ago virtually 24 hours in English, but now
it`s partial and others are welcome to inmove. I was aware Voz de Turquía was
using it for Spanish at 02-03, but now heard with another transmission, Jan 8 at
1358 with IS, 1400 timesignal a few sex late and opening in Russian, as in B-09
schedule from Çakirlar site. Then quick check of 12035 in English from a
another transmitter in that hall showed the usual low het and somewhat distorted
modulation (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U S A [non]. 9440, at 1357 Jan 8, open carrier with hum, Russian-style tones on
and off, 1358 tones stop, 1400 the WYFR opening joined in progress, Open Forum
with Harold Droning. This is a relatively new transmission, which I first
reported Dec 18, site unknown.
Aoki
now lists it at 14-15 only as 250 kW, 195 degrees from Novosibirsk-Oyash,
starting Dec 24. That`s about 82 degrees E longitude, making it virtually
transpolar from here, 97+ W.
9440
was about two seconds behind otherwise // 9770, similar signal but from
elsewhere, 500 kW, 84 degrees from Nauen, Germany, and also at 14-15 only, says
Aoki.
13605,
Jan 8 at 1455 with instrumental hymn ``Softly & Tenderly`` but soon morphing
into YFR ``Gott sei die Ehre`` theme until off at 1459*. It`s Uzbek, 250 kW, 75
degrees via Wertachtal, Germany at 14-15 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
BRAZIL [and non]. Jan 9 at 0647 noticed that RNA open carrier was on 11780 but
no modulation yet. 6185 also still had XEPPM with Cuban music unimpeded. But at
*0648:30, carrier and modulation from RNA cut on 6185 overriding XEPPM, and
shortly after at *0645:45 modulation cut on // 11780 with a song about the
madrugada in progress (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
EQUATORIAL GUINEA. RNGE making another sporadic appearance on 6250.0 (right on,
compared to Vatican 7250.0), good S9+12 signal Jan 9 at 0625 with Spanish news
mentioning Bata and Malabo, 0626 a timecheck for 7:21 so that explains why news
often starts well past hourtop. Frequent stingers, fútbol news; 0627 ute beeps
begin to QRM on lo side. 0648 still audible but weakening, as the equatorial sun
rises almost vertically building up D-layer absorption. The accent sounded
Castilian to me, to be expected but I wonder if native speakers could detect
some ex-colonial accent pegging it on EqG? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
**
FRANCE. Despite threats of another strike at RFI, ops seem normal, e.g. 15300,
Jan 9 at 1513 talk instead of Musique fill, 1524 phone interview with someone in
San Francisco about latest tech news concerning mobile phones.
At
Media Network there have been no follow-ups to this Jan 6 story:
http://blogs.rnw.nl/medianetwork/rfi-unions-call-indefinite-strike-from-7-january
But
Mike Cooper sent us this Jan 7: ``AFP reports today that the indefinite strike
at RFI has been postponed for 24 hours, after only 2 percent of employees
participated. RFI said 97 percent of its programs would air despite the strike``
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
LAOS [non]. 11785, Sat Jan 9 at 1506, Hmong up-and-down singing, i.e. Hmong
World Christian Radio, reminding me that I had tuned past this frequency a few
times in the 14-15 hour, and Hmong Lao Radio was missing, no WHRI transmission
at all. What will happen Sunday at 14-15? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
**
OMAN [and non]. 15140, Jan 9 at 1440, fluttery signal averaging S9+5 with music
but very undermodulated, so I felt better about yet again not having tuned in
early enough to hear English news from R. Sultanate of Oman at 1430, since it
probably would have been a strain to make anything out of. Similar signal level
on decent Romanian transmitter 15170 was adequate to enjoy the music, understand
the speech, without CRQRM (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
PALAU. I was surprised to hear Spanish gospel huxter, ``La Verdad para el Mundo``
at 1431 Jan 9 on 9965. Speaker spoke good Spanish but North American accent
detectable. First wondered if WRMI had pulled a fast one and shifted out from
under 9955 jamming, tho jamming pulse splatter also bothered 9965, and altho
WORLD OF RADIO was supposedly underneath Arnie`s noise at this time on 9955. La
Verdad para el Mundo is in fact carried by WRMI at another time per http://www.wrmi.net/schedule.php
And
the signal level, modulation could have been WRMI.
La
Verdad para el Mundo closing mentioned Billy Graham, and was upwrapping with an
apartado in Villa Rica, Georgia 30180! Did they pick that town just so they
could use a Spanish name? It`s halfway to AL west of Atlanta on I-20. Top Google
hit on zipcode to confirm that name also informed us V.R. had 45 registered sex
offenders in 2007, helpful info.
Here`s
more than you would ever want to know about that town:
http://www.city-data.com/zips/30180.html
including
the fact that it`s hardly a latino hotbed despite the name, presumably
developer-chosen to appeal to affluent Anglos desiring a taste of the exotic:
``96.8%
of residents of 30180 zip code speak English at home. 1.8% of residents speak
Spanish at home (42% very well, 27% well, 25% not well, 6% not at all).``
But
I digress. Back to the 9965 signal, whence if not WRMI? Retune at 1445 found
open carrier, commercials giving 800 numbers for mortgages, 3-step plan, then
USA network sports capsule about NBA axion. 1448 more dead air for a minute,
1449 finally World Harvest Radio ID, English gospel song.
A
new WHRI transmission to Latin America? No! at 1457 more WHR promos, not //
another broadcast on 9930 which just went off at 1458:20*, and back to 9965 in
time finally to hear a T8WH ID at 1458:30, then Peter Sumrall preaching.
Palau
in Spanish?! Perhaps for colonial remnants in Guam, Philippines (where many
people have Spanish names whether they speak it or not). WHR website is not
cooperating, failing to display program schedules, but does deny that such a
program title exists in any of them. 9930 is also T8WH, both supposedly in
Mandarin, which is not closely related to English or Spanish. Wrong feed? Who
knows (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
PHILIPPINES [non]. 11715, Jan 9 at 1507, RVA via Vatican, animated Tagalog
W&W conversation, but throwing in English expressions, such as ``much
happiness in the coming year``, ``join us in Facebook``. And another day with
zero sign of KJES during scheduled transmission (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
**
PORTUGAL. 15560, RDPI with weekend transmission to NAm, Jan 9 at 1511 was giving
periodic but seemingly randomly scheduled detailed frequency/schedule
announcement, including satellite info. Squealing slightly audible during
pauses, but VG signal. SW included 21655, 15560, but added that because of
technical problems, there would be no ``extraordinary`` transmissions to Africa
after 2000, or weekends after 1700, i.e. silly ballgame specials.
Perhaps
Carlos can explain exactly what the cause is --- one transmitter or antenna out
of order, or the usual lack of personnel available to make manual switching
changes beyond 9-5? If they are still extending broadcasts to other targets,
those should certainly be mentioned as audible in Africa for backup. But SW
stations where people do not actually listen to SW, tend to think they have
discrete targets with no overlap (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
TURKEY. VOT has 11815 to itself, no REE/CR collision, on Saturday mornings, so
Jan 9 at 1415 might have enjoyed the music on VG signal --- but modulation poor,
rather like English on 12035. TRT really needs to work on the modulation,
especially at Çakirlar site --- or, who knows, a problem feeding it without
degradation from studio to site (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U S A. WRMI 9955 transmitter problem: UT Sat Jan 9 around 0635, during La Rosa
de Tokio segment about broadcasting in Bahrain, including a clip of an FM
station, a few times a minute WRMI would irregularly dump off the air for a
second or a split second. Fortunately, no jamming audible then (Glenn Hauser,
OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also PALAU
**
U S A. 11855, WYFR English, at 1411 Jan 9 story time show in Saturday morning
kidblock, had audio cutting off and on, mostly off. Unless attenuated FRG-7,
during pauses could hear cross-mod from even more powerful 11830 WYFR Spanish,
which was constantly, not intermittently audiblized. 11830 is 315 degrees OKward,
while 11855 is 355 degrees ONward (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U S A [non]. 9760, VOA via PHILIPPINES, Jan 9 at 1453 ending ``On the Line``
interview on how to fight terrorism, using force, persuasion and some other
tactic, with ``thanks for watching``. Standard rant about TV programs pretending
to be radio programs and insulting non-viewing audience. As a matter of fact,
aside from possible captioning, or lip-reading, even watchers would not get much
out of it unless they were also listening! 1455 USG editorial about Yemen, SOS
Clinton talks with Qatari PM (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
CUBA [and non]. Anomaly observations Jan 10: at 0628, RHC 6150 missing. 6140 in
Spanish today, with bigger signal and modulation than usual, so suspected that
was the ex-6150 transmitter, // 6120 with pre-revolutionary historical talk.
However, at 0700 check, 6150 back on. 6060 was continuing in English after 6010
had gone off.
At
1423, usual huge S9+22 signal on 13780, but modulation cutting on only at
extremely distorted spikes; wiggle that patchcord! And the other equally big
signal on 22m, 13680 was nothing but open carrier. // 13770 from other site and
CRI relay 13740 were nominal, i.e. much weaker and somewhat undermodulated. At
1426, these two were mixing equally on leapfrog 13710 without any AIRGOS
audible; but after 1500 interfering with the word of Allah from BSKSA HQS.
At
1428, more problems: 15120 nothing but open carrier, 15360 OK with modulation.
Next check at 1453, 13780 was back to normal modulation, but 13680 was off as
often happens on Sunday due to pending Aló, Presidente requirements, whether el
Hugazo is a no-show or not (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See VENEZUELA
[non]
**
CUBA [non]. 13820, R. Martí with another of its excellent apolitical cultural
programs, Sunday Jan 10 at 1432, biography of modern-tango composer Astor
Piazzolla with his music constantly playing in background, occasionally
foreground. This frequency remained more or less atop the DentroCuban Jamming
Command, unlike 15330, which is so paranoid it even has to block a program about
Argentine music; I stuck with it for 25 minutes, instead of simultaneous La
Cultura en Cuba from RHC with all its modulation problems, and risk of
irrelevant revolutionary rhetoric.
Martí
show ended with final tango chords at 1457, but NO program outro, no name of
show, no credits, right into H1N1 PSA. This really annoys me about R. Martí and
it`s frequently the case. Also annoying was the otherwise excellent narrator
butchering several foreign names, such as Nadia Boulanger, the French music guru
to so many including Piazzolla, pronouncing her ``Búlanguer``.
R.
Martí website has a full-week program grid at http://www.martinoticias.com/rdprogramacion.aspx
which
automatically shows today`s date, and already starts tomorrow Jan 11 according
to the headers, but what about today?! Also shows times in EDT and GMT rather
than EST and UT! Wake up, OCB!
As
of next Sunday, anyway, this semihour must be ``Arte Latino``, and also airs
Saturdays at 1430 (displaying 1330 GMT, but 9:30 am ``EDT``, so read the EDT
times as EST, and ignore the GMTs which are one hour off.) Hotlink on the title http://www.martinoticias.com/programDesc.aspx?id=225
produces
a javascript pop-up which is --- empty!
Before
starting ``Resumen Semanal``, at 1501 promo for ``Estéreo``, a somewhat
misleading title for a shortwave program, airing M-F at 8 pm, with all the
latest rock hits and interviews; sounds like a frenetic feast for the juveniles.
Guess what --- no sign of it on the program grid supposedly dated for the week
to come. Instead listed at 8 pm ``EDT`` is ``Revista Informativa – Contacto
Cuba``.
So
any resemblance between what`s on the grid and what`s on the air is purely
coincidental. But we also see ``Arte Latino`` again during that semihour on
weekends (meaning UT Sun and Mon 0100-0130), and there are yet more airings
listed Sat & Sun at 2130 UT, all of which must be confirmed before they can
be believed. Geez, what a SNAFU operation, in its own way no better than RHC; or
could it be that lack of concern for accuracy is just a Cuban cultural
characteristic, Dentro- and Fuera-? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
CYPRUS. 9100-9125, OTH radar pulsing, Jan 10 at 1409, presumed from here rather
than China since it`s 25 kHz wide, atop some 2-way Spanish SSB circa 9119, and
some digital utility in the middle of the range (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
**
EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 6250, no sign of a signal from RNGE at 0627 Jan 10, while it
was quite good 24 hours earlier. Later sign on, Sundays, or just another
irregularity (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
GREECE. VOG, Jan 10 at 0626, good on 7475 with Greek Orthodox chanting, //
weaker 9420, so two transmitters are running, but is there a third? From a land
where there is no separation of church and state, Sunday morning services taking
up 2+ hours of public airtime. Fortunately, the rest of us can just enjoy this
for the music without the baggage of belief, thank you very much to the broke
Greek taxpayers (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
INDONESIA. 9526-, VOI carrier detectable around 1355 Jan 10, and retuned just in
time at 1406:30 to hear a few notes of music before it cut off the air at
approximately 1406:38* (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
LAOS [non]. 11785 was lacking any WHRI signal Sat Jan 9 before 1500, so Hmong
Lao Radio was gone again, and the same situation Sunday Jan 10 at 1413 check;
just some weak Chinese audible on frequency, which is CRI via Kashgar, East
Turkistan. WHR online program schedule search at 1630 Jan 10 claims HLR is still
running on 11785 Sat & Sun 14-15 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
MALAYSIA. 5030, where I have been lamenting about CNR1 always covering Sarawak
in our mornings, but not any more. As first observed by Ron Howard Jan 9, CNR1
is gone from this frequency. No help here yet as only a very weak carrier on
5030 Jan 10 at 1348, no match for adjacent Rebelde 5025. Now the challenge will
be to pull in RMS late enough to have Cuba weakened, but not so late that itself
is outfading; on until 1600* which is far too late here even in winter. Judging
from the co-channel it used to impose under CNR1, 10 kW Kuching should make it
adequately on a better day also the CNR signal helped to muscle aside Cuba. WRTH
2010 says the RTM Sarawak IS is ``a musical phrase (played on a native
instrument, the Sape), alternating between A and F``.
S.
Hasegawa confirms CNR1 is gone from 5030, possibly replaced by 6125, and 9675 in
the daytime (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
PALAU. Re my previous report, T8WH 9965 carrying a Spanish program, Sat Jan 9 at
1430, La Verdad para el Mundo. On Jan 10 I am able to check the online schedule,
which shows:
1430-1445
Sa Truth for the World Don Blackwell & Jim Dearman 9965
As
if it were in English. Perhaps the programmers decided to switch to their
Spanish version, or WHR downloaded the wrong one (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
**
PHILIPPINES [non]. 11715, RVA via VATICAN, Jan 10 at 1506 totally in English
instead of Tagalog, with religious service, first a prayer interrupted by amens,
guitar hymn, 1509 let us pray again, ``the liturgy of the word``, and lite
reverb/echo. 1510 modulation drops down for a few seconds; at first thought an
open carrier had come on atop. Further chex: 1521 still sermon in English with
an accent I can`t place but maybe Tagalog, ditto 1529, 1541. So is it in English
consistently on Sundays? At some points, especially the hymn with guitar
accompaniment, one might have taken this for KJES, but no robokids, so surely
still absent (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
TURKEY. VOT English at 1330-1420v on 12035 is getting worse and worse. Jan 9
audio was degraded, but Jan 10 at 1420 despite S9+15 signal level, just barely
modulated as I could detect the sign-off in English; 1422 check // 15300, fast
rippling het with RFI during last few notes of VOT IS (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
**
VENEZUELA [non]. Aló, Presidente check, via CUBA, Sunday Jan 10: At 1542, open
carrier on 12010, a frequency used only for Aló, Presidente whether it be
fulfilled or not. No carrier on 13750 yet. Weak carrier on 17750, could not tell
whether Cuba, but nothing else is scheduled.
However,
at 1715 recheck, El Hugazo was proclaiming on VG 13750, much weaker 12010, and
possibly 17750 as something was there, so A,P started sometime in between,
unknown when. However, another frequency which previously and supposedly carries
A,P, 13680, was instead in regular RHC programming, // 11730, 11760, etc. Too
much RTTY on 11690 to be sure whether or which programming was on there.
Say,
what about RNV`s own SW service? Their new dentroVenezuelan site at Calabozo,
south of Caracas, was supposedly going to be on air by December (Glenn Hauser,
OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
CUBA [and non]. Residual DentroCuban Jamming Command pulses on 6030, UT Monday
Jan 11 at 0616, vs detectable carrier, probably CFVP at this time. I guess it
was bad for Ethiopia-seekers earlier.
Also
at the late hour of 1533, could still hear signs of jamming on 6030 against
nothing, and stronger on 5980, both R. Martí frequencies, but RM is finished
with 6030 at 1200, 5980 at 1300.
Thus
the DentroCubans once again demonstrate their incompetence even in jamming, and
total disregard for the rights of others who have nothing to do with the Cuban
radio war (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 6250, RNGE again audible with Spanish news, frequent liners
at 0618 Jan 11, altho missing 24 hours earlier, and not missing 48 hours earlier
(Glenn Hauser,
**
INDIA [and non]. 9690, AIR GOS, Monday Jan 11 at 1435 in weekly mailbag
Faithfully Yours, this time with M&M hosts, assuring that no IRCs or other
return postage is wanted, and that on the European service, 11620 is no longer
in use since Oct 25, instead 6180. Usual constant hum on 9690.
1445
Film Music, but could not understand details of introduxion to a long selexion;
second piece was cut off at 1454 to promote a devotional program on next
transmission to SE Asia at 2245 (0415 IST); 1455 final news summary including
state visit of Bangladesh PM, heavy fog in Punjab, 300+ deaths due to cold
weather. Semi-minute overlap at 1459:30 with fast SAH as Nippon no Kaze via
Darwin was starting in Korean (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
INDONESIA. 9526-, Jan 11 at 1358 check, nothing audible, so VOI missing or
closed earlier than usual. 9680 RRI was quite good until 1500:36*.
Atsunori
Ishida now reports at
http://www.max.hi-ho.ne.jp/a-ishida/ins/
``Voice
of Indonesia has changed it schedule from January 2010. The contents are not
completely fixed, but are almost as follows:
9526
-1000-1400* [1000: English, 1100: Chinese, 1200: Japanese, 1300: English]
9526
*1600- (cannot confirm the contents, due to weak signal)
Chinese
and the Japanese have changed to one hour from 30 minutes.``
Jan
11 was a good morning for RRI on tropbands; at 1355, musical audio making it on
Palangkaraya 3325; 1357 better signal with music on 4750 Makassar, YL singer
continuing past 1400. Weak SAH from China or Bangladesh, and with BFO on, it was
obvious there were two carriers, but RRI now right on 4750.0 compared to 9750,
presumably Japan rather than Malaysia. At 1404, 4750 finally going from music to
YL DJ announcement in Indonesian (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
MALAYSIA. RTM Sarawak, 5030 still clear of ChiComQRM, Jan 11 at 1358 but too
much Cuba 5025. A bit better comparatively at 1413 with YL announcement
presumably in Malay after song, but still splatter from Rebelde especially
during music which is most of the time. But RTM kept gaining on Cuba during the
hour, and by 1503 with presumed news by YL, signal level had axually surpassed
5025. At 1510 finally understood something as YL concluded news with ``Salaam
Aleikum``, 1511 music. Still audible until starting to fade out at 1533. This
was almost two hours after local sunrise at 1343 UT (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
**
ALASKA. 6890, KNLS, Jan 12 at 1413 poor in English with a story about seeds that
Jesus allegedly told. Checked a few more times during the hour, but got no
better (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
CANADA [and non]. 6160, where CBC`s RCI clashes with CBC Vancouver in the 14-15
hour: Jan 12 at 1416 the usual fast SAH, with RCI signal atop, except it was
just barely modulated in Chinese, the relay via Kimjae, KOREA SOUTH, and could
also hear CKZU in English underneath (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
CHINA. Firedrake check at 1439 Jan 12 found none on 8400, 9000, 10210, 11300
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
CYPRUS. OTH radar pulsing Jan 12 at 1440 on approx. 9132-9158, plus exactly same
sound but weaker on 10150-10172, presumed from here, but I am having my doubts.
The ~25 kHz bandwidth is typical of Cyprus rather than China, but
propagationally could also be something AustralAsiatic, and there are a number
of other such radars (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 5005, Jan 12 at 0622 with weak talk, music, drumming, must be
RNGE Bata, seldom heard and suspect not always on air in mornings. Then checked
Malabo on 6250 at 0628 talking about human rights, enumerated lots of things
that would be fixed for all citizens by the year 2020; 0629 ID as R. Malabo.
0630 into music; tried to determine if // 5005, but could not be sure due to
much weaker signal there (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
ERITREA. 7165 with HOA music, Jan 12 at 1437 but soon overridden by North
American SSB hams, apparently a net tho none listed here in the final edition of
Nets to You from April 1, 2007. At 1438, VOBME signal, probably long-path, faded
up a bit, providing a BFO for hams with suitably weak signals (Glenn Hauser, OK,
DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
ETHIOPIA. 7110, some broadcast talk weakly at 1437 Jan 12, presumably R.
Ethiopia via long-path as was also getting 7165 at the time (Glenn Hauser, OK,
DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
KOREA NORTH [and non]. 5910, Shiokaze/Sea Breeze still here for 1400-1430
broadcast, Tue Jan 12 at 1409 in Japanese, and Juche jamming also audible, the
oscillating noise but not enough to block it here (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
**
MALAYSIA. 5030, RTM Kuching, Sarawak, Jan 12 at 1400 better than before, tnx to
unusually weak Cuba 5025, and its own signal also improved and still without
ChiComQRM. Talk in presumed Malay, 1404 music. 1424 DJs chattering and laughing
after a song. (At 1456 I find that my oil heater puts a noise blob around
5020-5040, so shack will stay cold to hear this a bit longer.) Now 5030 is
definitely stronger than Rebelde. 1500 unexpectedly loud two-pip timesignal,
compared to the talk modulation: shows that program audio level could be boosted
if they cared to. TS was about three sex late, so hardly reliable for
navigation. I think the second pip was slightly prolonged but same pitch as
first one. Into scripted news by YL. This is a simulcast of the Wai FM service
but no such ID heard yet (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
MAURITANIA. 4845, ORTM, Jan 12, 0624 at S9+12 level, but modulation not
commensurate, usual soporific chanting around this time. Has been on rather
reliably lately (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
SOLOMON ISLANDS. 5020, BBCWS sounder and news in English, Jan 12 at 1400, enough
to be sure it`s the SIBC overnight relay, and Cuba was weaker than usual on 5025
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. 13810, Brother Scare, in a lather about something, Jan 12
at 1514, lite long-path echo // weaker 17485 but not exactly synchronized. I
have seen some reports of 13810 attributed to USA, but certainly not. 13810 is
Nauen, 17485 is Wertachtal per HFCC, tho Aoki still shows the latter in B-09 as
Juelich, plus a few other listings --- I think not (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
**
TURKEY. 12035, surprised to find a TRT-sounding signal here Jan 12 at 1444, long
after this frequency is supposed to close around 1422 when English concludes.
This was in a Slavic language, and believe I heard TRT mentioned, perhaps in an
URL. Sure did not seem Russian; thought it might be ``Bosnian``, which TRT had
last year at this time on 9525, but that`s among the many languages they have
supposedly deleted.
12035
had the same audio distortion as heard during English, plus the low het tnx to
someone off-frequency. Produxion style also was VOTish, with long program theme
music following announcement of show title. S9+12 signal suddenly cut off the
air at 1447 as someone realized their mistake, uncovering a weak signal from
something else which produced the het, perhaps VOR Samara tho not in all
listings. The only transmissions during this semihour on the TRT schedule are:
11815
Turkish (also heard, well)
9785
Kazakh
9410
Russian
I
did not check these until I had looked them up a few minutes later. By then,
9410 had a mix between BBCWS English via Oman and VOT Russian; 9785 dominated by
ChiCom jamming and VOA Chinese via Philippines. It`s also noteworthy that all
three are Çakirlar, so the Emirler site is not on the air at all at this time.
Why would it not be in use? VOT has been caught several times before asleep at
the switch, putting a following language on the previous frequency (Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U S A [non]. 15770, Jan 12 at 1510, tonal African dialog mentioning Abuja and
Nigeria, no doubt VOA Hausa as scheduled, but whence? Aoki says São Tomé, EiBi
says Botswana (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U S A. 9480, WTWW, Lebanon TN, testing with open carrier only for a ``human
exposure study``, Jan 11 from *2055 past 2141, with occasional breaks. Also
heard at *2302-2307*. Running about S9+22, comparable to WWCR on 9980, i.e. a
very strong signal. I was hoping for an ID or some modulation, but not yet.
However, I am positive it was WTWW, since George McClintock advised me this test
was about to start with 90 kW, later said it was 60 kW. There was only one small
RF leakage problem near a window. The SWR is OK, no arcing problems. However,
some guy wires were installed incorrectly, since he was inside the building
working on the transmitter instead of supervising the crew outside. He says they
were hoping to run another test, with heavy modulation early UT Jan 13 on 5755
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U S A. 6800, weak mix of two audios from US station, Jan 12 at 0638, soon
matched to WWCR on 5070 and 5935, as this is a leapfrog of one over the other at
plus another 865 kHz. Had not heard this one before. I believe it was axually
transmitted as could still hear it with attenuation on the FRG-7 and also on the
YB-400. This led me to look for a corresponding leapfrog of 5070 over 5890,
which at plus 820 kHz would land on 6710, and there was a trace of something
there (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U S A. 9955, no signal from WRMI, and no jamming either, Jan 12 at 0645 when
should have been airing RCI via WRN relay; yet WYFR was inbooming on 9715, 9680,
also on 9355, 9495, 9985, so I conclude WRMI must have been off the air (Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U S A [and non]. 13700, S Asian language at 1515 Jan 12, good signal would have
been fine if not for WYFR 13695 splash. 13700 is YFR via Nauen in Hindi, so it`s
Camping vs Camping! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
CHINA. Firedrake Jan 14 at 1437: poor on 8400, nothing on 9000, 10210 or 11300
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
CUBA [non]. 7210-LSB, Cuban exiles hams in Spanish on their favorite frequency,
Jan 14 from 1439 tune-in; at 1446, musing why Cuba has not attempted to make Haïti
a socialist state --- not worth it? Usual counter-revolutionary remarx such as
assertions that any disaster aid to Cuba gets sold instead of reaching victims.
One of them IDed as N4RAU in Miami and that chex out at ARRL callsign lookup as:
Oropesa, Raul L, N4RAU (Extra)
Miami
Dade, FL 33175
Previous
call sign: KI4QQR
I
wonder if Cuba will invade Haiti with any disaster relief, risking running into
yanquis et al.
From
1445 could hear music in the background, as some broadcaster must have begun on
this shared band? Nothing scheduled to start then, so maybe just not audible or
noticed before then. Aoki presents these possibilities:
7210
CRI 1400-1457 Chinese 150 95 Beijing
CHN
7210
VOV1 2145-1700 Vietnamese 20 ND Daclac
VTN
7210
VOBME1 (Dimtsi Hafas)
1355-1600
Kunama 100 ND Asmara-Selae Daro ERI
(Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
INDONESIA. 9680, RRI Jakarta at 1454 Jan 14 with ``Indonesian opera``, soprano
et al., with gamelan orchestra, continued past 1500 instead of previous cutoff
at 1457; finally at 1504, 9680 went to talk, 1507 more music now a pop ballad.
Went off sometime during the next semihour as gone at next check. 9526v VOI was
already off after 1400 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
KOREA NORTH [non]. 5910, Thu Jan 14 at 1426, Shiokaze via JSR JAPAN was
concluding Japanese broadcast with usual sad piano music background; but also a
fast SAH from some co-channel QRM not noted before. Uplooked later, maybe it was
Iran`s Bengali service scheduled for 1430 via Kamalabad, and they ordinarily do
come on a few minutes early, so Sea Breeze should still be clear for most of the
broadcast from 1400, aside from Juche jamming, none audible today (Glenn Hauser,
OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
MALAYSIA/SARAWAK. 5030, RTM Kuching, Jan 14 tuned in time to monitor the 2-pip
timesignal at 1500 --- this time it was close to correct rather than 3 seconds
late, no doubt having noted my previous observations (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U K [non]. 5875 is a BBCWS English frequency we can hear fairly well in our
mornings, despite its official destination 25 degrees from Thailand to most of
China, North Korea. But Jan 14 at 1425 as I tuned by, noticed some ute QRM,
sounded like TADIL-A. Next at 1427 that was gone but instead was hearing mix of
English and something in Arabic which was somewhat atop! The latter also had
``that BBC sound``, and at 1332 while English was wrapping up news headlines
before Crossing Continents, Arabic ran BBC sounder, so tnx to WRTH 2010, easily
looked up listed Arabic frequencies during this hour, and sure enough, 5875 was
// Cyprus 9915, and also // 15790 but an echo apart. BBCWS vs BBCWS on 5875!
Possible explanation: another Cyprus transmitter is scheduled to take over from
Thailand with Persian at 1600 on 5875. Maybe it got turned on much too early
with the Arabic programme feed. Or equally SNAFU`d, possibly double programme
audio feed input to Thailand
transmitter,
nobody noticing (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U S A. WBCQ with the first SW broadcast of WORLD OF RADIO 1495, Wed Jan 13 at
2005 check on 9330-CUSB, much better signal than // 7415, but 9330 modulation a
little rough. I hope they left 9330 on for the rest of the semihour, but did not
get it rechecked before 2030, as I had already heard the show. You never know
whether 9330 will be on at this time, as committed to use 7415 only, Tue/Wed/Thu
2000 for WOR (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U S A. WTWW was testing with music on 9480 UT Jan 14 around 0030, but
propagation had dropped out here, so weak and fading.
At
0045 came up on 5755, much better signal with music, S9+15 on the FRG-7 but
that`s just slightly above the local noise level with computer on. Much better
than 5745 station, presumably WWRB. Modulation seems good but still not a solid
signal. Don`t know how much longer they will be on tonight.
5755
rechecked at 0117, MUCH stronger signal S9+22 or so, now solid, as if they
turned up the power but were supposedly full power earlier, so maybe we had just
hit a propagational hole then.
Still
much stronger than Brother Scare on WWRB 5745, and much much stronger than WWCR
PMS/DGS on 5935. WWCR 5890 PPP does not start until 0200. Comparing signals to
these neighbors should be helpful.
0120,
0124, 0130 IDs, apparently between each tune, say ``Coming to you from near the
banks of the Upper Cumberland River in middle Tennessee, this is WTWW, Lebanon,
Tennessee, U S A, performing equipment tests``. Mod seems a bit distorted now
and/or with selective fading distortion. Disappeared at 0126:30 or so, back on
at 0128.
Here`s
the ID recorded around 0134 UT Jan 14 on 5755, the final one before went off at
0136: http://www.w4uvh.net/WTWW.rm
(Glenn
Hauser OK, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U S A [and non]. 5050, WWRB on the air after 0700 Jan 13 must have been a fluke
(or a make-good?), as it was gone again 23+ hours later at 0622 check Jan 14,
with R. Cultura do Pará again in the clear on 5045, as always playing nothing
but pop music, never classical as one might expect (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
**
BIAFRA [non]. Had not checked former VOBI transmission for a few weeks, which
was Fri 19-20 on WHRI 15665, but just in case did so Jan 15: nothing heard, tho
at 1930 I happened to be in a rather noisy parking lot with a portable. Website http://www.biafraland.com/vobi.htm
still shows no broadcasts since Dec 11 as far as audio files (Glenn Hauser, OK,
DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
CUBA. RHC UT Jan 16 at 0713 had English still running not only on usual 6060,
but also still on 6010 and much weaker 6140; while Spanish was on 6120 and 6150.
As frequently noted, 6140 is sometimes in Spanish, sometimes in English.
11760,
RHC missing at 1454 Jan 16 while 11730 and 11800 continued. 11760 probably was
in processing of switching transmitter/antenna, as it was back on by 1500 (Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
KOREA NORTH [non]. 5910, Shiokaze via JSR Japan, Jan 16 at 1426 in Korean, fast
SAH again from co-channel station about to start at 1430. The latter just too
weak to tell if similar to or // Iran on 9575 Russian or 9585 Hindi, but 5875 is
listed as VIRI Bengali. Occasional CW QRM such as at 1440 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
**
LAOS [non]. Hmong Lao Radio missing again this weekend, Jan 16 at 1415 check of
WHRI 11785 --- not on the air. However open carrier was up at 1455, prior to
Hmong World Christian Radio at 1500 Saturdays only. Website http://www.h-lr.com/
still has no audio files since Jan 2 and 3 but continues to mention 11785 (Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
MEXICO. 730, dominating the channel for a few minutes from 0445 UT Jan 16 on the
nondirexional caradio, not XEX, the onetime clear-channel leader, but instead
Radio Viva-something, serving Chihuahua and Durango, which fits since it`s XEHB
at Hidalgo del Parral, Chihuahua, right on the Durango border. Despite many
repetitions of the ID, it was hard to tell what the second word was.
WRTH
2010 shows XEHB on 730 as Radio Viva Vida, 50 kW day and 1 kW night, so suspect
it may be on day power.
Uplooked
later in the new ``Quick & Easy`` MWList, http://www.mwlist.org/mwlist_quick_and_easy.php?area=3#kHz730
it`s
not there! They still have XEHB under its previous identity on 770 whence it
moved and where we first heard it long ago.
Then
checking another source, Fred Cantú`s Mexico Radio site:
http://mexicoradiotv.com/listchih.htm
We
get a different name, Radio Viva Villa! I`ll bet his version is correct since
there is a graphic of the logo, very small which needs to be blown up;
unfortunately no hotlink to a website.
That
name presumably means ``long live Pancho Villa``, a local hero. I wonder what
the new IRCA Mexican log shows? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
MEXICO. 6104.8, XEQM made another appearance Jan 16 at 0713, modulation somewhat
distorted with frantic music for the nightmiddle, good on peaks but fades down
to nothing, including at 0716 when an announcement was starting. By 0725 had
apparently decided to stay outfaded (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
TUNISIA. RTT, still on 7335 at 0800 Jan 16 with Arabic news, after nice selexion
of Arabic music until then. Official sked shows 7335 on until 0910, but since it
also shows // 7275 until 0730, but really closes at 0627, does 7335 also go off
earlier than scheduled? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
TURKEY. 41 and 31m mostly dead except for some African relays, 0609 Jan 15, but
on 9700 Turkish music with YL ululating and string instrument had fair signal,
0610 announcement. This is VOT Turkish, Emirler site at 310 degrees to Europe
but also USward at 05-07.
12035,
usual somewhat distorted modulation from VOT, Jan 15 at 1422 with multi-lingual
ID time-filler, then sign-off announcement in English, 1424 IS which kept
running instead of turning off transmitter to QSY; 1427 as usual starts
inserting IDs in language to follow, amid IS variations, still not sure what it
is, but it is definitely not Russian, one of the 1430 languages on the schedule,
as it went ``Turkiye ---- Radio``, which points to one of the many Turkic
languages. 1430 6-pip timesignal ending 1 second late compared to WWV, opening
program mentioning website partially www.trt. Kept running until abruptly cut
off at 1433:35 when the operator woke up and starting moving to the frequency
where this is supposed to be, as previously discussed, most likely Kazakh on
9785. The Slavic influence I previous heard would be apropos (Glenn Hauser, OK,
DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U K [non]. 5875, BBCWS still QRMing itself as first noted Jan 14. On Jan 16 at
1425, English and Arabic mixing with Arabic somewhat stronger. English is via
Thailand, which used to be clear on this frequency. There is some fading, but
hard to tell if propagational or subaudible heterodyning from slightly different
frequencies. By 1459 both signals much weaker, but could make out BBCWS sounder,
ID in English and timesignal. Where is the Arabic coming from and why has BBCWS
decided to collide with itself? Do not find the latter listed anywhere (Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U S A. 5755, WTWW testing again UT Jan 15 around 0142 and 0147 with same ID and
probably same music loop as before. Carrier and modulation off and on several
times as needed: 0213 off, 0218 OC, 0219 not audible.
George
McClintock tells me that altho problems are being worked out, a lot more
full-power testing is needed, especially on 9480 which would be on the air
Friday afternoon. Does not plan to finalize programming until after HFCC, which
is Feb 1-5 in Kuala Lumpur. He`s also too busy now to verify reception reports
but will eventually have a QSL card; there is no contact info on the website http://wtww.us
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U S A. 9955, Jan 16 at 1533, no jamming, weak signal with lo modulation, and
fast SAH, presumably WRMI, which Jeff White tells me is temporarily on the 5 kW
backup transmitter, but not running full hours. Sounds like preacher which fits
for Zion Teacher scheduled; the other being YFR via Tainan, Taiwan in Russian
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
AUSTRALIA. 9475, Jan 17 at 0708 English discussion of PINs, ATMs, apparently the
Innovation show. Did not realize RA started this early on frequency, but indeed
9475 scheduled from 0700 and a good thing it is, tho 329 degrees from Shep,
nowhere near USward: not // 9660 and 9710, the latter split off for stupid
ballgame coverage on a Sunday afternoon (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
COSTA RICA. 15170, REE at 1323 Jan 17 talking about Chile, Ukraine, in Spanish
with good modulation for a change. I wonder if this means one of the new
transmitters is now in operation? It`s also DRM-capable, so watch out next
season. Strangely, no co-channel audible from RRI in Romanian, tho should be on;
it was colliding after 1400, however. REE // 15125 also CR relay considerably
weaker (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
CUBA. RHC missing from 6140, Jan 17 at 0650 so we can`t know if it would have
been in Spanish or English this time. At 0700 surprised to hear RHC opening
Esperanto on 6110 as I tuned by looking for XEQM, much weaker than Spanish on
6120, but I think this time, 6110 was receiver overload, as it appeared to go
away with attenuation.
But
it could have been a leapfrog mix, as both 6010 and 6060 were still on with that
weekly language. Soon they announced schedule for Esperanto starting with
``6000`` at 0700 Sundays, so the speakers haven`t a clue about the frequencies
they are really on and did not attempt to copy the rest of it.
At
0730, 6010 and 6060 went right back to RHC English, with ``news`` item saying
``allegedly`` to raise doubts about US relief to Haiti: could it be that the US
is using this as an excuse to take over another country? Yeah, sure, just what
we need. Always a negative spin on the US from RHC: now what is Cuba doing to
help Haiti? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
CUBA [non]. R. Martí confirmed with the ``Arte Latino`` show at another time it
appears on their unreliable program grid: Sat 2130. At least, that was the show
in progress at 2150 Jan 16 on 13820, about a Nicaraguan, 2151 brief produxion
credits for that segment and on to another about Tico Valdés, 10.1.21-26.6.95,
of sonora matancera fame. Also on 11930 and 9565, but much better on 13820 due
to signal vs. jamming level (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
INDONESIA. 9526, VOI in English Jan 17 at 1316, YL with an historical talk
concerning the 1930s, undermodulated, but at least the English hour still exists
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
MEXICO. 6104.8, XEQM, 0637 Jan 17, DJ a YL for a change on this UT Sunday,
including live TCs, phone number, taking a call-in putting listener on air,
feedback but good signal, soon fading down (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
**
NETHERLANDS [non]. 9670, Jan 17 from tune-in at 1257 a story was being told in
English, but cut off incomplete at 1258*. What in the world was that? Aoki soon
provides the answer:
9670
R. NEDERLAND 1230-1257 1234567 Dutch 250 267 Tinian Island MRA
So
it is yet another case of non-coördination between program feed and
transmitter, as we have heard before via IBB NMI and Philippines: RN feed in
Dutch ends at 1257, and then switches to English, but they leave the transmitter
on one minute longer, not caring what may be modulating it. Must add RN`s
one-minute English service to schedules (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
NIGERIA. 6090-, Jan 17 at 0638, Anguilla off, uncovering big but distorted
signal from assertive speaker in African language. Has to be R. Nigeria, Kaduna,
probably in Hausa. Slightly off-frequency to the low side compared to MW 1090 on
the FRG-7, and with BFO on, at least one more carrier nearby, probably
Bandeirantes/Brasil making lo het. This is the rumble we normally hear under DGS/PMS
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
ROMANIA [and non]. 9660, Sunday Jan 17 at 1320 RRI in German discussing QSLs,
good signal as usual, since altho obviously destined for nearby German-speaking
countries, it`s on a 307 degree azimuth from Tiganeshti, exactly the same as for
North America a bit further on. How about the vertical takeoff angles --- do
they make the same azimuth steeper when serving Europe instead of North America?
Unseems so due to consistently good signals here on Euro transmissions.
Since
VOA Creole has been expanded a semihour on weekdays until 1330, this will
produce a collision on 9660, whereas before, VOA went off before RRI went on. I
suppose Greenville can override RRI in Haiti, but it`s not a pretty scenario.
The new VOA Creole // at 1230-1330 M-F is Bonaire on 6135 which should be in the
clear altho I have not yet heard it. BTW, if there were any weekend when a
little overtime would be justified to keep the Creole service going daily, this
is it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U K [non]. 9410, BBCWS in English via WHRI, Sunday Jan 17 at 1254 with Newshour
discussion of US politix, ending at 1256 in time for a sports capsule. The 12-13
hour M-F had been the only BBC Spanish left on SW, but after the earthquake, it
was announced that BBC was switching this transmission to English, expanded also
to weekends, and // 11860 via Guiana French.
A
contradictory report said the hour would be partly in Spanish and French (not
Kriyol, but close enough?), but this is the first time I have monitored early
enough to hear any of it. Has anyone noted French on this? Seems to me that
breaking up Newshour to insert other languages would be inconvenient, but do the
Haitians really need to hear about US politix in English at the moment, let
alone cricket or rugby? Anyhow, this change takes care of any chance to hear
DXing with Cumbre where it used to appear at 1200.
Speaking
of rugby, that`s what ``Invictus`` is about, secondarily Mandela; be warned, tho
still a good movie. According to this tale, black and white South Africans`
passion for the stupid violent ballgame made it a significant factor in
overcoming racial tensions, enhancing national pride and unity, and getting
Mandela off to a good start as leader (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U S A. 5070, WWCR generally holds up with large signal at night, but Jan 17 at
0643 it was weakening, non-solid as `skip was long` and/or MUF was low over path
from Nashville during talk show discussing CES Las Vegas. Not much was making it
on 7, 9 or 11 MHz either, except Australia 9660, and New Zealand 11725 (Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U S A. WYFR has added a bit of reverb to Brother Camping`s audio, so now he
sounds like he`s at the bottom of a barrel, which is appropriate considering the
nonsense he spews: same sound on // 5950, 6915, 7455 at 0713 Jan 17, all with VG
signals. I`m afraid this makes him no more hip, but may appeal to those easily
impressed by reverb (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U S A. 2366 kHz, ``LSA`` longwave beacon from Lamesa TX again audible on seventh
harmonic of 338 kHz, Jan 17 at 1305, the Symban-spoiler. VL8 carriers were
barely audible at 1314 on 2310, 2325, 2485, so no chance for Symban here anyway.
Altho it`s A2 with continuous carrier and modulated Morse code, as heard on 2366
the LSA keying was negative, as I kept trying to position the BFO to make it
positive. So weak that BFO essential to make it audible at all vs noise level.
Could not detect it on x 9 = 3042. I have no doubt I am hearing this propagated
seventh harmonic but am curious why no one else has reported it (Glenn Hauser,
OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
VENEZUELA [non]. ``Aló, Presidente`` finally nominal Sunday Jan 17 at 1715
check via CUBA: on all five scheduled frequencies, arranged here from strongest
to weakest: 13750, 12010, 17750, 11690, 13680. El Hugazo pontificating.
Meanwhile RHC itself with music on 11760, et al. (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
**
AUSTRALIA. RA in discussion of giving birth at home, 9580, rudely interrupted
amid at 1358* Jan 18 as that frequency had to close with no retune/courtesy
announcement at all, continued on // 9590 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
**
CUBA. RHC, 0609 UT Jan 18: Spanish, ending Figuras en la Historia on 6120, 6150;
music during English service on 6140, // 6060, 6010 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
**
INDIA. Seems the AIR Aligarh transmitter on 9470 is upacting again after a
couple months of calm: Jan 18 at 1359 music // stronger National Channel via
Bengaluru 9425, but 9470 accompanied by buzz, more on the lower than the upper
side tho maybe suppressed by RA signal on 9475.
9425
at 1435 ending newscast, introducing English feature program on this Monday with
music, ``Old Black Magic``, segué to Celine Dion`s ``My Heart Must Go On``, the
connexion between them not being clear; 1442 talk with biography of someone born
on 1.23.1897 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
INDONESIA. 9526, no signal at 1357 Jan 18, so VOI presumably off if it were ever
on this date, despite having resumed Malay hour at 1400 and on until 1502* the
day before per Ron Howard (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
PHILIPPINES [non]. 11715, RVA via VATICAN, Jan 18 from *1500 in the clear, still
no sign of KJES, YL devotional talk in presumed Tagalog, and I thought I heard
her referring repeatedly to ``allah``, tho you`d think they`d use the Spanish
term ``dios`` instead. Perhaps Philippines is more tolerant of such cross-religionism
than Malaysia. The monotheist Abrahamists have more in common than they like to
admit (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
SPAIN. After catching REE Sephardic service foulups on Dec 21 and 28 when the
modulation feed was far out of coördination with the transmission time of
1425-1455 Mondays on 15385, I missed checking on Jan 4 and 11, so made sure to
tune in Jan 18 from 1420. By now they are no longer SNAFUd, with IS starting at
1423, sign-on at 1425 but STILL giving wrong frequency 15325!
1448
with ``España Hoy`` segment about opening of Wagner`s ``El holandés volante``
in Madrid, ignoring the composer`s anti-Semitism. 1453:30 standard sign-off
again giving frequencies for this and the two other judeo-español transmissions
UT Tuesdays; yes ``15325`` by an announcer who never monitors her own broadcasts
and no one in-house bothers to inclue her. Contact info to the six-digit P O
box, or to sefarad @ rtve.es
then fanfare and off at 1455* sharp (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
SPAIN [non]. Had not reconfirmed REE`s M-F 1340-1355 ``co-official languages``
segment for some weeks, so barely got to it in time on Monday Jan 18, on 15170
via Costa Rica under Romania, at 1354 upwrapping the Basque segment with genuine
Basque-language closing announcement after giving weather in Castilian like the
rest of that 5-minute token service which is not really in Basque at all (Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U K [non]. 5875, BBCWS in English via Thailand, poor but no QRM at 1355 Jan 18
with report from Haiti. Next check at 1445, English again mixing with another
language, but atop it, presumably BBCWS Arabic as before, with phoner. EiBi
update Jan 17 and Aoki Jan 18 still have no listing for the Arabic (Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U S A [non]. 9440, Jan 18 at 1405 talk in unID language, probably S Asian, and
now accompanied by buzz similar to AIR on 9470. This buzz is the same thruout
the bandwidth of the signal, however, and not loud enough to blot out the
intentional modulation. Around 1415 had giveaway YFR jingles.
We
first heard this new transmission Dec 18 when it was YFR in English, and per
Aoki was: ``9440 FAMILY RADIO 1400-1500 1234567 English 250 195 Novosibirsk-Oyash
RUS 08341E 5529N WYFR b09 Dec. 24-`` And our last log of it on Jan 8 was still
in Campinglish.
As
often with YFR, they start a new transmission with English fill until they are
ready to attack a new minority group and then switch to that language; but
which? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
ALASKA. 6890, KNLS better than usual during English hour, Jan 19 at 1406 ID and
2-minute segment on stamp collecting, US plans for 2010 issues, Year of the
Woman. A bit of an echo, backscatter? 1408 Postcard from Alaska, about Glacier
Bay starting with bird SFX. Now they`ve got listeners hooked with innocent
secular stuff, at 1412 hit `em with gospel-huxtering: ``True Stories from the
Bible in Contemporary English``. Still, every state should have its own SW
station promoting tourism, even if it`s produced in Tennessee (Glenn Hauser, OK,
DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
AUSTRALIA. 2485, VL8K, Jan 19 at 1345 with some talk audible, but not on weaker
NT carriers 2310, 2325. At 1346 I could almost imagine there was a carrier on
2368.5 from R. Symban, but too much LSA beacon harmonic --- see U S A (Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
AUSTRALIA [and non]. 15340 in English Jan 19 at 1455 with big het from
perpetually off-frequency Morocco on 15341. Must be HCJB Kununurra, only thing
scheduled, and CVC Cox Peninsula (still on the air) was making it well with
gospel rock on 13635, neither reliably audible here over night-path.
At
1458 Morocco went off, about to shift to 15345, so could hear 15340 at 1500
closing Spotlight, easy English program with e-mail address. Now the problem is
splatter from Radio Martí 15330, and nothing much further audible from HCJB-Au,
which is supposedly in English daily 1445-1530, after lots of other S Asian
languages from 1145, all aimed 307 degrees from WA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
**
BRAZIL [and non]. 6185, apprehensively enjoying nice Mexican music on XEPPM,
6185, Jan 19 at 0625 now clear of Catholic clash from Vatican, and already at
*0629 on comes Brasília overriding it. Feb 21 cannot come soon enough, when
Brasil goes off DST and this should start cutting on sometime between 0730 and
0800 UT instead. Inexplicably, RNA shifts programming and transmission one hour
back and forth due to DST in Brasília even tho there is no DST in target Amazônia!
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
COSTA RICA. 2859.8, R. San Carlos --- seems the only times I hear it are when
checking something else quickly on the portable, in the cold outdoors on a
clip-on antenna away from the household noise sources --- there it was
definitely in Spanish vs noise level still high, Jan 19 at 0150, two times
1429.9 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
CUBA. Has anyone noticed anything unusual from RHC in Creole? They allegedly
have only one half-hour program daily which doesn`t leave much time for anything
but propaganda. The `official` sked e-mailed out after B-09 began claims Creole
is only at 0100-0130 on 13790 to Rio de Janeiro! And that matches the
transmission schedule currently presented on the website in Spanish. I think
they are known to substitute French for Creole, anyway. It seems their service
in that language has atrophied. The YouTube visit to RHC a few years ago showed
a gringa(?) non-Haitian lady in charge of it. Is she gone?
There
seems to be no Creole page at all on the RHC website, but looking at French, the
transmission schedule there is years out of date, claiming Creole is: 2130-2200
9505, 2230-2300 9505, 0100-0130 9550 --- both frequencies abandoned long ago.
If
Cuba really wanted to help, they would have greatly expanded their Creole
service by now, like VOA, BBC, RFI. Not to mention actually delivering aid,
doctors from that paragon of medical excellence. But having to submit to US air
traffic control?! Instead they and Chávez bitch about US aid generously given
to Haiti as some kind of opportunism to take over the country (Glenn Hauser, OK,
DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
INDIA. 9470, AIR National Channel via Aligarh, again exhibiting problems, but at
least not jumping to lots of other frequencies as it used to. Jan 19 at 1333,
Hindi talk // clear 9425 Bengaluru, but 9470 with motorboating, warble, hum
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
INDONESIA. 9526-, VOI carrier weakly detectable but not any modulation, Jan 19
at 1340 during presumed English hour. RRI HS on 9680 also weak, but some music
audible.
4750,
RRI Makassar, Jan 19 at 1352 continuous YL talk in Indonesian, with ripple
presumably from one of the other 4750 stations on a slightly different
frequency, likely CNR1. Also some music on 3325 at 1349 but can`t be sure it was
Palangkaraya as Atsunori Ishida http://www.max.hi-ho.ne.jp/a-ishida/ins/
says Buka, PNG often QRMs past 1400 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
KOREA NORTH [and non]. Jan 19 was a good calm morning for reception from here,
first checking 2850, at 1344 with Korean talk, deep fades from S9+8 peaks.
Weaker at 1348 on 3250, 3320, jammer on 3480.
Looked
for more Juche jammers at 1516: exactly same noise sound on 5890 vs VOA as on
6003 and 6015. 6003 is against Echo of Hope, but 6015 is new, per Aoki 0654-0004
against the reactivated South Korean channel, some audio of which was audible
under at 1524:
``6015
KBS Hanminjok Bangsong 1 0350-2400 1234567 Korean 100 ND Hwaseong KOR 12659E
3709N KBS b09 Jan. 1- // 972, 117[0]``
At
1521, similar jamming noise on 6600 with victim audible and 6518; different
sound with faster pulsing on 6350. 6285 in Russian which is VOK. 6250 had noise
jamming pulses instead of Pyongyang BS – a mixup at the transmitter site or
are the South Koreans retaliating? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U K [non]. 5875, BBCWS in English via THAILAND, Jan 19 at 1404 with optional
cutaway cue ``World News from the BBC`` for benefit of affiliates for whom three
minutes of news is plenty; atop co-channel in Arabic we have been noting for
several days now. A little birdie tells me this is indeed BBCWS via Cyprus site:
5875
BBC 1400 1600 Arabic Cyprus smtwtfs Arabian Gulf 300 121 VTC 1/18
Tho
I was hearing it before January 18. BBC assumes they can double up on this
frequency without significant self-QRM in respective target areas, which may be
true, and at the same time as a bonus make BBCWS 5875 unlistenable by
undesirable North Americans who have no right to hear it any way on SW (Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U S A [and non]. One of VOA`s known Kriyol SW frequencies, 13725, heard on the
air earlier than scheduled *2200, Jan 18 at 2134 tune-in but nothing yet on the
other SW channels 15390 or 11905. Announcement at 2138 mentioned only this SW
frequency after three FM frequencies, 92.?, 93.3 and 105.1 --- which had been
unknown before and not specified in press releases. Presumably some or all of
them are airborne from the psyop SOW which flew in from Harrisburg PA. Then at
2140 started putting callers on the air trying to find out about relatives or
contact them. Surprised to hear the first one in English, from a woman in
Martinique seeking her father, gave her own phone number, but all the others
were in Creole almost until hourtop.
Then
I started looking for the other SW frequencies. As usual, they were late coming
up as news on the hour had started on 13725! At 2201, open carrier on 15390,
modulation from 2202. At 2201 no carrier on 11905, but on and modulating at next
check 2204. I suspect 13725 may have been on for hours before I ran across it.
More below.
Rechecking
toward end of the scheduled 22 UT hour, at 2254: 15390 inaudible, presumably
just faded out; 13725 weak and fading, but 11905 still very good; 2259 a bit of
dirge classical music, standard VOA sign-off in English. These are all
Greenville, of course, aimed close to a right angle from OK.
[Later,
Jan 19:] Expanded hours for 13725 still do not show on the C-page of the A-Z
frequency schedule: http://author.voanews.com/english/about/frequenciesAtoZ_c.cfm
and
if you click on Creole for that service`s page, you may find lots of interesting
info in fraxured french at
http://www.voanews.com/creole/
but
if you then click on Frekans, you go right back to the A-Z schedule presented in
English. Nor do I see anything on either page about the three new airborne(?) FM
frequencies I heard announced today.
At
0145 UT Jan 19, I tried the new nighttime Kriyol transmission at 01-02 on 1180,
5960 and 7465. 5960 was fair but fading, and 7465 JBA. 5960 was previously the
Tue-Sat Spe-cial Eng-lish channel at 0130-0200, along with 7405, where nothing
is heard now, so suspect the latter Greenville transmitter has also been
pre-empted, or co-opted, but on 7465 instead.
It
so happened that at 0147 they were playing back the same caller in English from
Martinique that I had heard at 2140, otherwise Kriyol.
I
thought I might be able to detect 1180 audio from Marathon // 5960, but no, just
too much QRM from multiple US/Mexican transmitters if not Cuban audible here; I
have no reason to believe the Cubans are turning off their jamming during the
VOA/Creole hours on 1180. (Terry Krueger in FL says there are at least three
unsynchronized Rebelde outlets on 1180.)
I
was also wondering if Marathon might have loosened up or modified their
direxional pattern during the Haiti hours to maximize the signal there, and
possibly change its backward radiation too, normally extremely suppressed.
Looked
for VOA Creole`s expanded morning transmission Jan 19: tune in 6135 at 1326 but
nothing audible, scheduled Bonaire relay from 1230. It`s a bit late for
propagation, 9:26 am local, but expected to hear at least something. Maybe they
had to close a bit early. The other expanded frequency, from Greenville, 9660,
was VG running a USG editorial in Creole, 1329:30 English sign-off. During open
carrier could hear RRI in German, now colliding for a semihour.
IBB
uses 13725 from Tinian until 1700, but then it`s open, not registered by anyone.
But at 1757 Jan 19, the midday Creole transmission expanded to 1730-1930 is on
VG 15390 and fair 17565, not yet 13725, tho it was certainly running well before
2200 the day before. Maybe picks up at 1930? (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U S A. 15550-USB, still no trace of WJHR at 1725 check Jan 18. In fact, the last
date I definitely heard it was Dec 20, tho others reported it last on Dec 30. So
has it been completely silent since then, or just brief tests we have missed? I
wrote to G S Mock asking him about this. He replied Jan 19:
``WJHR
had an antenna failure. High rf caused melting in the wires. This is good news
though! A new antenna is being installed as soon as the weather permits. I hope
to have the station up and going in a few days if all goes well. The new antenna
is a quality log periodic which should put out a substantial signal. Thankyou
for your your concern and keep listening. We will continue to be on this
frequency during the A10 season. G.S. Mock wjhr @ usa.com`` (Glenn Hauser, OK,
DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U S A. 2366, Lamesa TX NDB on seventh harmonic of 338 kHz, stronger than
recently at 1346 Jan 19, so with BFO was able to recopy definite Morse ID as ``LSA``
despite negative keying on A2 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
ALBANIA. 7430, R. Tirana in English, Tue Jan 19 at 2113, Klara presenting
mailbag with letters from USA, Sweden, UK and one recognizable name, Christopher
Lewis. Later music fill and off the air at 2127*. Good signal, adequate
modulation, no QRM tho there was something weaker on 7425 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
**
CUBA. 11600, DentroCuban Jamming Command still grinding away on this frequency
for no perceptible reason. There is nothing on any of the online schedules after
Slovakia finishes at 1600, and no victim can be detected under the jamming, such
as 2055 UT Jan 19, but bothering DW German via Rwanda on 11605.
11600
jamming diminished after 2100 but irregular pulsing could still be heard. The
DCJC must be convinced something needs to be jammed on 11600, or maybe there was
a typo in Arnie`s monitored schedule. Or could it be, or have been, a
never-discovered daytime broadcast of Radio República or some other clandestine
with a signal too weak to show up?
Checked
RHC frequencies in case they have resumed something Creole, Jan 19 at 2130 but
found them all in Spanish, except 11760 with English running late, about a joint
Cuban/Venezuelan clinic in Haiti which was apparently already there when the
quake hit.
2132
theme and transition to French (not Creole) also on 11760, partly about what
Cuba is doing in Haiti. Here`s one story about that on their website:
http://www.radiohc.cu/espanol/a_sugerencias/enero/10/etica.htm
And
another, in English, always with as negative a spin as possible toward the USA,
claims 400 Cuban doctors are in Haiti: http://www.radiohc.cu/ingles/a_comentarios/10/enero/ene18.htm
On
the French broadcast one item was slightly positive, that Cuba is allowing US
aid flights to overfly eastern Cuba, or as found on their website:
``Le
communiqué rappelle que le gouvernement cubain avait autorisé, tout de suite
après avoir reçu la demande, l’utilisation de l’espace aérien sur l’Est
de son territoire, par des avions étasuniens à destination d’Haïti pour
faciliter l’envoi d’aide humanitaire.`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
**
U S A. After hearing VOA Creole earlier than scheduled the day before on 13725,
I started looking for it much earlier on Jan 19, before the expanded midday
transmission until 1930 was over on 15390 and 17565. I was not monitoring
constantly, rather checking 13725 once per half hour, but nothing. Finally a
more comprehensive bandscan found 15390 still/again on the air at 2052 with VOA
Creole --- no other frequencies found on 9, 11, 13, 15 or 17 MHz bands. No
thanks to VOA for not publishing their full correct frequency schedule in
Creole.
Interview
in progress kept on going right past hourtop 2100, but 15390 abruptly cut off
the air at 2100:30*. I could imagine the operator at Greenville hustling to
manually retune the old beast to 13725, meanwhile missing programming in
progress from Washington. Finally 13725 carrier came on at *2002:15, and it took
almost another minute for modulation to be applied, phone-ins now.
At
2105 it was the anomalous English-speaking woman from Martinique, same recording
I have now heard three times at random tune-ins, seeking her father Michel
Kenetry (? No idea how to spell his surname, something like that, but she never
spelt it). Also copied her phone number but not to be put here as she does not
need any extraneous calls. (If in the extremely unlikely chance someone in Haiti
really needs to contact her after reading this here, ask.) At 2129:30
programming on 13725 paused with ``has come to you from VOA, Washington``, but
not a sign-off as Ronald César resumed from studio at 2130 with news about the
situation (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U S A. Over two months after he was sentenced to 175 years in prison for child
sex abuse, convicted evangelist Tony Alámo is *still* broadcasting on WINB,
where criminality is no problem, noted Jan 19 at 2050 with distorted modulation
on 13570, plus splattery spurs down to 13530 and up to 13595, with further peaks
around 13500 and 13635 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
INDIA [and non]. 4920, Jan 20 at 1346 with flutter, YL talking in Hindi, AIR
Chennai until 1400 dialog, maybe commercial with music mixed, 1401 seemed like
3-pip timesignal but probably not, into singing. During the talk there was weak
music under, probably Lhasa, the only two stations active here, discounting Biak.
There were weaker signals on a number of other 60m AIR channels (Glenn Hauser,
OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
INDONESIA [and non]. 9680, RRI at 1420 Jan 20 with QRDRM noise, and more of same
against something else on 9670. Not much audible on 9675 itself, but must be
emanating from VOR via Moscow site, with DRM centered there, 100 kW, 260 degrees
at 14-18 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
KOREA NORTH. 3560, weak signal in French, Jan 20 at 1405, no doubt feeder of VOK
as on 9330, 11710 but did not try to //. Other NK signals: best on 2850, also
3250, 3320, 4450 jamming, but nothing jammed or not on 3480 (Glenn Hauser, OK,
DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
THAILAND. 9725, G signal better than usual during 1400-1430 English broadcast
toward Australia, Jan 20 at 1421 but only music, none of usual talk features, so
apparently lost feed and filling with this. First was solo piano recital, 1423
dead air for a while, then false starting and restarting native orchestral music
featuring drum and flute, joined by soprano with Thai song; 1427 seemed to
re-restart same song until interrupted at 1428:30 bell IS, ID as ``HSK9, Radio
Thailand World Service from the Public Relations Department``, bells and re-ID
cut off air at 1429:30 before completed. Studio/transmitter coordination so
often an insurmountable challenge in SWBC (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
**
U S A [and non]. Another day trying to determine what VOA is really doing with
its expanded Creole service since they won`t post their own schedules
accurately:
In
morning bandscans I have not noticed any unpublicized frequency between 1330 and
1730, but could have missed it.
Jan
20 at 1929 when the midday broadcast officially ends, I tuned to 17565 and
15390. The usual mid-hour pause of dirge music, and then 17565 switched to the
VOA French service to West Africa, while after a bit of jazz, 15390 continued in
Creole. Both are contrary to known schedules.
Per
A-Z VOA schedule, French is supposedly on 17550 and 17580 at 1830-2000, but
nothing audible on either frequency. Apparently at least one of those was the
Greenville transmitter turned over to Creole on 17565 until 1930, and they did
not remember/bother to switch it to correct 17580 for what was left of the
French sesquihour. But at next check 1958, 17565 was already gone, still no
17580 but WYFR overpowering on 17575 and elsewhere in the 17.5`s. 15390 in
classical music, 2000 continuing in Creole.
The
other French frequency, 15225, scheduled 1830-2000 via BONAIRE, was being heard
all along, but continued past 2000 with French VOA ID, and then switch to
country music in English with audio dropping out/skipping severely. At 2008,
15225 still on with lively Franco-African DJ, same weak signal as earlier, so
Bonaire site prolonged? The VOA A-Z schedule for French shows a gap at
2000-2030, but Aoki knows better, showing 15225 Bonaire lasting until 2030.
At
2059 Jan 20, checking to see if same happened as 24 hours earlier: almost. VOA
Creole 15390 had a caller on the air, but cut off at 2100:00 sharp for frequency
change. So I QSY to 13725 and wait for it. Finally *2101:50 both carrier and
modulation with no further delay amid another caller: no news on the hour this
time, and no built-in break to accommodate such switches like they do on the
half-hour, strange. At 2107 there was another caller in English, Marie – Duran
in the 407 area code, which is around Orlando FL, seeking someone; shortly into
an interview about aid (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U S A [non]. 9940, YFR in unknown Asian language, Jan 20 at 1418 along with big
buzz, something you would expect from India rather than listed Novosibirsk,
RUSSIA; Aoki still shows this as English, the initial language on this new
transmission. At 1430 was spelling out Family Radio URL. Meanwhile at 1415,
Camping still in English, Open Forum on 9485 with more flutter but no buzz, and
that is due south from Irkutsk (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
CUBA. 6210, weak RHC Spanish leapfrog mixing product of 6150 over 6180, which
therefore must be from the same transmitter site. Next check at 1257, 6210 was
gone since 6180 had already closed (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See
also VENEZUELA [non]
**
INDIA. 9470, AIR Aligarh transmitter continues to re-degrade, Jan 21 at 1406 now
the buzz is louder than the modulation, and somewhat bothering Russian on 9465
from KFBS. Fingers crossed that it will not resume jumping all over the 9.3-9.5
MHz range (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
INDONESIA. 9526-, VOI remains stable here just a smidgin below the 1-kHz-off
frequency, Jan 21 at 1357 good signal and modulation with Indonesian song.
Unfortunately the last half of the hour is mostly music, so if you want talk
content you have to get the first half. 1401 ID, more music; 1402 VOI ID and
outro English hour as always giving 100% wrong frequencies, ``9525, 15150,
11785`` and by webcast http://www.voi.co.id
Also P-mail street and box addresses, english @ voi.co.id and ``sound of
dignity`` tho they now have another slogan I missed earlier. 1403 switch to ID
in presumed Malay rather than Indonesian, 1404 hum becomes audible, 1405 warta
berita (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
POLAND [non]. 11675, PRES via AUSTRIA, Thu Jan 21 at 1347 in mailbag reply to
someone in Netherlands, says PR still has Esperanto on website, tho had to drop
broadcasts three years ago despite Poland`s being the birthplace of the
artificial language.
This
is a time when Multimedia was scheduled, but Slawek Szefs outro referred to it
as ``Multi-touch``, a `new hybrid feature` and invited critical comments about
the change.
It
still shows as Multimedia on the grids here:
http://www.thenews.pl/static/Schedule.aspx
and
http://www.polskieradio.pl/zagranica/ramowka/?id=10
Link
to Multimedia on the home page goes nowhere, and search on multitouch, and
multi-touch finds nothing, but multi touch with a space finds the new info,
altho appearing there as a single word! ``MultiTouch``: http://www.thenews.pl/News/?id=124006
``The
New Year has ushered in the necessity of introducing some cuts to our program
offer, the chief reason being further limited funding of Polish Radio, the
public broadcaster of which the External Service is part of [sic]. Presented by
Slawek Szefs
``MultiTouch
is a temporary (???) compromise solution to the problem. I have decided on a
merger of the two programs tailoring it to both audiences' expectations. The
premier air times for Multimedia and In Touch with repeats will be preserved not
to introduce chaos to our schedule nor to disrupt your listening habits. Hope my
decision proves correct.``
So
when was In Touch scheduled? Toward the end of the Friday 18 and Saturday 13 UT
broadcasts, and the other time for Multimedia was toward the end of the Tuesday
18 transmission.
URL
above also has an audio link. So I later went back and listened to the entire
hybrid program, as he pronounced his name, which reminded us that the L in
Slawek is supposed to be crossed and pronounced like a W, (and of course the W
pronounced like a V) even tho PRES does not bother to do that on its English
webpages. How do you make a crossed-L, anyway? I can`t find Polish on MS Word 95
insert-symbol and if I did, it would surely come out garble in most places. I
can`t even copy the symbol from a Polish-language page without getting a
question mark.
On
audio archive, after co-host from In Touch walked in, discussed Chopin being a
Pole, not a Franc, which I did not hear on SW, having missed the first 22
minutes of the 24.5-minute show. So it must have started at 1324 or 1325.
Back
to Thursday at 1349, onward to next feature, very well-written and presented,
Letter from Poland, by Anna --- on being an expat, from Poland, who grew up in
London and now is back in Poland. It seems West London is overpopulated with
Poles, making the schools oversaturated too due to large families, so there is
some resentment among the Brits. Says she is half-Bulgarian, to complicate
matters further.
I
wanted to get her full name, but like Multimedia, the link to Letter from Poland
does not work either and have not reached it by searching. The two separate
websites as above are not fully integrated and compatible, but if you click on a
link from the old page you may wind up on the new page; is thenews destined to
replace the other one?? 1355 into closing of this English hour (Glenn Hauser,
OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
RUSSIA. 6030, good signal Jan 21 at 1258, concluding bit of VOR announcement in
English mentioning ruvr.ru,
IS, open carrier with hum and off at 1300, clearing frequency for Ming Hui and
the Chinese radio war. But VOR is not scheduled here in English per:
http://english.ruvr.ru/radio_broadcast/schedule
which
at 12-13 shows only 11660, 15610, 15470. Nor do any of the online schedules show
VOR in any language at that time on 6030. Something new, or a mistake?
Then
checking WRTH 2010y: 6030 is in the frequency pages as VOR Samara, but I don`t
see it for any language until 1300. And for English at 12-13, WRTH shows a
different set of frequencies, 7340+DRM, 7350, 9695 and 11660, the last being the
only one in common!
Go
back and look at the VOR online sked as above: yes, it is dated ``October 25,
2009 – March 27, 2010`` but the lower frequencies make more sense in the
winter, so I lean toward the WRTH version. Furthermore, HFCC B-09 does NOT show
15610 or 15470 for VOR, but it does show 11660 and 7350. So VOR`s own online
schedule portrays summer frequencies with a winter date --- don`t you believe
the rest of it! Meanwhile, 6030 remains a mystery (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
**
TURKEY. 12035, VOT English at 1330 via Çakirlar site, has become totally
useless: Jan 21 at 1341 tho S9+10 signal with flutter, just barely modulated,
unreadable. So much for Live from Turkey, the Thursday edition. Recheck at 1409,
just as bad, so check Emirler // 15300 at 1411 where modulation is OK, but
colliding as usual with RFI in French, slightly stronger than RFI, but too much
QRM and fast SAH to be listenable. Discussing the future of Cyprus.
So
VOT strikes out due to incredibly incompetent engineering at the transmission
level and at the frequency planning level, wasting 1000 kW and causing harmful
interference to a fellow SW broadcaster. We can only wait for A-10 to start at
Marchend, when VOT plans to go back to last summer`s frequencies timeshifted to
1230-1320, 15450 and 15520. But they never learned their lesson about 9830 to
North America, colliding with RTTY at 2200, planning to use it again too.
Later
retrieved LFT on the one-day archive, from the right margin of
http://www.trt-world.com/trtinternational/en/news.aspx?dil=en
finding
it did not start until 31 minutes into the transmission. Seems LFT now has a
weekly(monthly?) report from Michael Daventry in London reviewing the Turkish
press there, where there are nine highly competitive newspapers. Seref Isler
admitted that altho he is half-English, has lived in London and visits often, he
was not aware of them. Otherwise the hosts apologized for laughing all the time,
so not much other significant content (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U K [non]. 9410, BBCWS via WHRI, Jan 21 at 1241 apparently Newshour going from
an item on how to dispose of bodies, to one about an ornate elephant-and-dragon
clock at the Science Museum. Unsolid signal with flutter, and at 1247 check,
better on // 11860 via GUIANA FRENCH.
Perhaps
they have French if not Creole at 1215-1230 after Spanish?
This
setup replaces all-Spanish during the hour, the last half-sesquihour of which
was archival or music fill anyway, certainly expendable but it takes a 7.0
earthquake for BBC to get knocked into broadcasting something more timely within
its last remaining Western Hemisphere SW broadcast. Don`t get used to it, since
likely to revert to the old pattern once the aftershox are over. And we can
resume hearing classical music fill after 1233 on M/W/F.
17780,
just as I tuned in at 1414 Jan 21 heard a couple words from BBC in English
before it cut off. Mistake? No, Hausa is scheduled here via Ascension at the odd
time of 1345-1415 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U S A [and non]. On Jan 21 I turned on and tuned in early enough to check the
new, temporary(?) VOA Creole relay via Bonaire on 6135: at 1236 good signal. At
1244 got to 31m in bandscan and before I could reach 9660 to confirm // from
Greenville, found it already on new 9505! Ex-9660. As we outpointed early on,
extending 9660 past the original 1300* would collide with RRI Romania in German,
and evidently IBB eventually reached the same conclusion. 9505 in the clear is
an echo apart from 6135 due to satellite delay. At 1301, RRI German was
unimpeded on 9660, tho ACI from 9655 CRI.
At
1326, 6135 had weakened a lot into the daytime, but still audible vs T-storm
noise between here and there as spring is oncoming (there was even a tornado
watch in OK last night and local lightning made us close down for a few hours);
giving phone numbers and e-mail addresses. 1328 VOA jingle, 1329 a snippet of
``We Are the World``, VOA English outro until 1329:30, open carrier and off at
1330, exactly the same instant as 9505 did so.
We
still don`t find any fill-in frequency between 1330 and the next scheduled
Creole broadcast at 1730, but checking http://author.voanews.com/english/about/frequenciesAtoZ_c.cfm
the
Creole schedule for 1230-1330 has been changed to 9505. It still refuses to show
the afternoon transmissions we have axually been monitoring the past week,
1930-2100 on 15390, 2100-2200 on 13725! Are they secret, perhaps put on by
Greenville as a public service without informing Washington? (Glenn Hauser, OK,
DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U S A. Haven`t heard WTWW testing the last few days on 9480 or 5755, so I asked
George McClintock how things are going. He says a long test period is scheduled
for Saturday Jan 23, times here changed to UT:
1600-1900
9480
1900-2200
9475
2200-2400
9480
0000-0400
5755 [UT Sunday]
``All
this assumes that we have no problems. This will be a test to see how the
transmitter and other equipment hold up with extended transmission time.``
(Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U S A [non]. Correxion! Yesterday`s report showed 9940 instead of correct 9440
for this which I now repeat: YFR in unknown Asian language, Jan 20 at 1418 along
with big buzz, something you would expect from India rather than listed
Novosibirsk, RUSSIA; Aoki still shows this as English, the initial language on
this new transmission. At 1430 was spelling out Family Radio URL. Meanwhile at
1415, Camping still in English, Open Forum on 9485 with more flutter but no
buzz, and that is due south from Irkutsk (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
VENEZUELA [non]. 11705, RNV via CUBA transmitter is in terrible shape, only the
worst for the Bolivarian allies! Jan 21 at 1249 big S9+22 signal but very
undermodulated, in fact hard to hear beneath continuous scratchy audio breakup
which was also splattering plus and minus 15 kHz. RNV ID heard and then
sports(?) report. If RNV ever monitored their own broadcasts, which they
obviously do not since they don`t know the real times and frequencies, they
might hurry up and get their own Calabozo SW site going --- but then the Cubans
are assisting them with that, so it may turn out just as incompetent (Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
BRAZIL. 11780 RNA already on the air with music at 0632 Jan 22 as I tuned by,
but when I passed the frequency again at 0640 it was missing. Then checked //
6185 and that was on atop XEPPM. If one of the transmitters broke down, I wish
it had been the other (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
CHINA. Firedrake Jan 22 at 1448: poor on 8400, not audible on 9000 or 10210
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
CYPRUS. 5875, BBC Arabic still audible somewhat under BBC English via Thailand,
Jan 22 at 1433 as the latter was starting Politix UK show. Path from Cyprus must
be long-path, which makes it somewhat notable. If it were short-path there would
be lots of closer Europeans audible on 6 MHz band, which is not the case at this
hour (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
GREECE. 9420, VOG on the air again as heard Greek, tuning past around 1450 Jan
22. Reports from Erik Køie and Wolfgang Büschel earlier in the day confirm
three transmitters are once again funxional (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
**
SUDAN [non]. 17745, Sudan Radio Service ID in English mentioned several times
during otherwise Arabic dialect, Jan 22 at 1511, in voice-over translation of
someone in English, I think at the moment. No imposed reverb/echo on the
modulation this time, which helps a lot. 1517 gave address in Nairobi, Kenya,
but this is really transmitted from PORTUGAL (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
**
U S A. 11565, WYFR at 1454 Jan 22, lite reverb again upon Camping the doomsayer,
but no reverb when the program outro announcer started speaking, as it was
Family Bible Study #192 for current date (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U S A. 15610, WEWN English at 1508 Jan 22, discussion of ``pro-life`` with heavy
long-path echo from 39 megameters away (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
ARGENTINA. RAE is back! Main transmitter used on 15345v and 11711v had been off
the air since late October, but Jan 23 at 0016 I noticed a het on 11710 with
Chinese station. Could also be variable North Korea, but worth further checking.
At 0055, there was the RAE IS and now measured on 11709.4, so still
off-frequency but to the other side. By 0102 it was too weak to confirm
language, presumably Japanese as previously scheduled, and still hetting weak
11710 signal. The Chinese on 11710.0 is per Aoki: CNR1, Beijing 572 site, 100
kW, 285 degrees.
However,
this sounds like the same old GE transmitter which RAE could never get to stay
on frequency, not a brand-new replacement which is supposedly on order. So they
managed to get it going again. Next check at 0215 found English from RAE in the
clear after China goes off at listed 0130; like the other foreign languages,
this English 02-03 broadcast is UT Tue-Sat only, finally French at 03-04;
meanwhile, look for 15345v reactivated also. Per WRTH 2010, B-09 weekend
schedule of RNA relays is Sat 2000-0230 UT Sun on 15345; and Sun 1800-0300 UT
Mon on 11710v (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
BRAZIL. 10000, Observatório Nacional, Jan 22 at 2313 with UT -2 timechex in
Brazilian every dekasecond with one pip, and with three pips at minutetop,
mixing with WWVH and WWV, including their weather segments between minutely time
announcements. Poor-fair signal but glad to have any at all if it`s still only 1
kW or less. Must have been during a fade-down of superpower WWCR 9980, which
came back up at 2320 overloading 10000, disaudiblizing the timesignallers (Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
GREECE. 9420, VOG reactivated, poor Jan 22 at 2311 check with Greek music //
better 7475 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
TAIWAN [and non]. 11605, bad het between Brazilian Portuguese and unID including
music, Jan 23 at 0011. Brazilian is VOR via GUIANA FRENCH, and the only other
thing scheduled is RFA in Vietnamese via Tanshui, TAIWAN, per Aoki --- another
notoriously off-frequency relay from this country, like Tainan as listed which
which can`t make it to 9955.0 or 11550.0 either (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
**
U S A. Discovered another unpublicized frequency for VOA`s Creole service,
filling in the gap between scheduled 2200-2300 and 0100-0200 transmissions:
7590. It may have been on for days, but I have not been bandscanning much in
this bihour. First heard Jan 22 at 2321 with Creole talk on phone, 2334 phone
number and ID as Lavwadlamerik (as they spell it in Kreyòl, which forces French
to be more fonetik). 2359 recheck, VOA ID and off at 2359:30 so I quickly
scanned 7 and 6 MHz bands for another channel. By 0006 I came back to 7590 and
found it on again, so they faked me out. Must have had a transmitter and/or
antenna change to make at 0000, then resuming. 7590 still going at 0052, but
vacant after 0100 when the non-secret service is underway on 7465 and much
weaker 5960.
I`ll
give VOA one more chance to display its full Creole schedule at http://author.voanews.com/english/about/frequenciesAtoZ_c.cfm
Checking
at 0145 UT Jan 23:
NO,
still no 7590 shown, and nothing in the 1930-2200 UT period either when we have
been hearing them on 15390, then 13725. Kai Ludwig suggests the unpublicized
transmissions could really be feeders to the Commando Solo relays on AM and FM
over Haiti, tho you`d think C.S. could get satellite feeds. Maybe SW input is
more convenient, not having to keep satellite dish aimed from circling aircraft.
This
means we need to search for further secret SW transmissions possibly filling the
rest of the 24 hours, 0200-1230 and 1330-1730.
A
VOA press release of Jan 22 says VOA Creole ``has expanded its broadcasting to
10.5 hours on weekdays and 9.5 hours on weekends`` without any details. The
known SW transmissions of 1230-1330, 1730-0200 add up to 9.5! But now there is
even more past 0200:
At
0215, 7590 is back on, but 7465 is still on too, rather than closing at 0200.
5960 no longer available, with NHK via Sackville. So how long will those two
stay on? Until 0300 would add up to 10.5 hours. I certainly have not heard them
previously when I scan after 0600 (Glenn Hauser, OK, 0238 UT Jan 23, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
**
ARGENTINA. At 0312 UT Jan 23, the RAE 11709.4 signal was better in music,
presumably within French service, but a het once again. Now the only other thing
scheduled is CRI in Russian due west via Urumqi, East Turkistan (Glenn Hauser,
OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U S A. VOA Creole: Recheck at 0312 Jan 23, 7465 and 7590 are indeed off, and did
not search for further frequencies.
So
summarizing, the full known schedule of Lavwadlamerik, combining overt
transmissions on schedule and covert ones as monitored:
1230-1330
6135-Bonaire, 9505
[above
M-F only? Would account for one hour less on weekends]
1730-1930
15390, 17565
1930-2100
15390
2102-2200
13725
2200-2300
15390, 13725, 11905
[overt
schedule no longer shows 15390 at 2200; not checked Jan 22]
2300-0100
7590
0100-0200
5960, 7465
0200-0300
7465, 7590
The
overt schedule at all times day and night also shows 1180 ex-Radio Martí,
Marathon, but is it also in use for any of the covert times? Cannot monitor it
from here (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U K [non]. A BBC press release Jan 22 says they are starting a daily
Creole-language service from Jan 23, at 1410-1430 UT carried on several FM
stations in Haiti and ``also on shortwave``, but do they bother to give the SW
frequency? Of course not! We must hunt for it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
**
ARGENTINA. 15345v, RAE not only is off-frequency around 15345.2 but wobbles
producing a non-constant tone against weaker Morocco, Feb 16 at 2149 when
fluttery RAE could be made out as in German. One can hear the same wobble with
BFO after 2200 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
CHINA [non]. 9590, something in Arabic at 0635 Feb 17 with Celtic-sounding
music, later Brahms, koto, quite a mix. It`s CRI via ALBANIA at 05-07 (Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
COSTA RICA. 15170, REE missing at 1419 Feb 17, allowing Romania unimpeded, which
before 1500 normally happens only on Saturdays, but this is Wednesday. REE relay
still going on 9765 // 11815. Such anomalies make us wonder if caused by
installation of new DRM-capable transmitter (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
**
CUBA [non]. 9490, new frequency for R. República, apparently Sackville ex-9810,
Feb 17 from *0003, VG signal at first with several dumps off and on, then stays
on with sign-on, program summary including in EST = UT -5, i.e. 0000-0500:
8:00
pm, Frente a Frente
8:30
pm, Bloqueo
9:00
pm, La Revista de Ciencia y Tecnología
9:30
pm, Espacio Plural
10:00
pm, Atrévete, juvenil
10:30
pm, Palabra ---
11:00
pm, La --- Cubana, to interview Lincoln Díaz-Belart
y
de inmediato
[7:05
pm], Recuento Informativo which followed at 0005:30.
9810
was still being jammed, and no jamming yet on 9490. If 9490 is Sackville, why is
it stronger here than RCI English on 9755, 268 degrees? 31m signals from Europe
at this time were all much weaker than 9490, except Portugal 9455, which always
has a propagational advantage from the southwest corner.
By
0015, 9490 was weakening a bit; 0019 still announcing old schedule of 6-11 pm on
9810, lunes a domingo. Retune at 0057 they were announcing a different schedule
but missed first part, including 9955, i.e. via WRMI, but at 0058 repeated
``9810 at 6-11 pm``, outdated info. At 0100 Frente a Frente [Butting Foreheads]
started as I ceased monitoring.
Jeff
White tells me the new R. República schedule is:
0000-0300
on 9490 UT Tue-Sat, and
0300-0500
on WRMI 9955 daily
I
also heard WRMI 9955 just before 0000 UT with R. República theme music; Jeff
says WRMI is also informally running R.R. at 22-24 UT weekdays, which amounts to
an earlier sign-on than before, ex-WRN programming, but subject to change.
At
0000 WRMI switched to Radio Libertad, another Cuban clandestine, as scheduled,
announced as via WRMI at 7-8 pm, ``contacto con el pueblo de Cuba``. República
at 03-05 UT bumps off another Libertad hour to one hour later to 05-06 replacing
English programming.
No
jamming audible on 9955 until next check at 0058, by when WRMI was about to go
back into English, totally blocked. This could be a problem UT Friday at 0130,
rescheduled time for WORLD OF RADIO, but Richard Lemke in AB reported no
interference at our other new time, UT Wednesday at 0230. WRMI`s NW antenna is
still out of service.
Jeff
later gave me some background on R. Libertad, including QSL info, which will be
on WOR 1500 and DXLD 10-07 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 6250, RGE active with YL in Castilian news, Feb 17 at 0618,
ute QRM on low side (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
SAUDI ARABIA. 13m doing nicely Feb 17 at 1430, HQS on 21460, other service on
21505 // 21640. Checked 15435 at 1456 and carrier was already on, but forgot to
modulate it until 1516:50, joining Arabic talk in progress, soon more Qur`an.
15435
replaces either 21505 or 21640, as 21460 continues another hour. At 1509, as
normal, one service on 15225 and the other on 21460 // 13710 (Glenn Hauser, OK,
DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
SWAZILAND [non]. 11640, TWR via SOUTH AFRICA, with low modulation the night
before, back to normal Feb 17 at 0625 with African-accented preacher in English.
Unusually, this was the SSOB = strongest signal on 25m band; Cuba e.g., on 11760
strength varies widely, and the `skip was long` tonight, making RHC JBA (Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
TUNISIA. 7275, RTT checked again for exact time of cutoff during Arabic music,
Feb 17: 0626:30 modulation stops, 0626:40* carrier off. Must be on a timer. But
why? There is no pressing need for this transmitter on another frequency that we
know of, at least not for broadcasting. Meanwhile same program continues on //
7335 until 0810v (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U S A [and non]. VOA and jamming chex early UT Feb 17: VOA Spanish at 0015 on
5890, 9885: nothing but jamming audible on both.
A
Fondo, at 0102: good with no jamming on 9415 and 7340, nothing on 11625, but the
latter was also on, loud and clear at 0108 check. Meanwhile the old R. Martí
frequencies supposedly carrying same joint-produxion hour, were nothing but
jamming, 6030, 7365, 9825.
Lavwadlamerik
at 0104 reconfirmed on 5835, 5960, 7465, but not on 7590 which had secretly been
on at 23-01. 5835 also remains secret, missing from the Creole schedule at
http://author.voanews.com/english/about/frequenciesAtoZ_c.cfm
(Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DGIEST)
**
U S A. 15550-USB, WJHR, Milton FL, strongest yet heard, Feb 16 at 2135, S9+20 so
maybe the new antenna is in use, or sporadic E is boosting signal, tho not up to
VHF. Usual preacher railing against a hundred Bible translations since the KJV,
which ``bomb out`` within a few years, just done for profit, and not
sufficiently fundamental.
Needed
attenuation to avoid pumping; 2157 had switched to gospel music and stopped
promptly at 2200* Maybe they had an ID or sign-off before the music. I see that
Mock has QSLed some P-mail reports with his ham card adapted, but not by E-mail?
At
the moment, 2148, this was stronger than WBCQ 15420-CUSB which attained only
S9+5 at modulation peaks by the androgynous anapaestic preacher (Glenn Hauser,
OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U S A. 17775, KVOH, Feb 16 at 2146, music at S9+22 level which should be enough
to audiblize the spurs: yes, whine and noise blobs on fading 17920v and weaker
17630v; at 2153 could match talk modulation peaks on 17775 with 17920 (Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
CUBA. 6140, RHC in English audible but much weaker than // 6060, 6010 at 0655
Jan 23. Some 24 hours earlier, 6140 was off. But at 0656, 6140 cut to dead air
while English continued on the other two.
This
week I chose RHC for musical entertainment on Saturday morning, ``Cancionero
Iberoamericano``, on 15120, Jan 23 in progress at 1438 as Tony Gómez was
presenting a frenetic song in English about family planning. Turned out to be a
Barbados segment, followed by a much quieter tune, ``Beautiful Barbados``. 1446
on to Trinidad & Tobago for a funny calypso song with tambores metálicos (esteel
drums); 1448 time for a bit of something from Aruba, where most people speak
four languages, and the main one, Papiamentu, is a combo of six. Before news
summary, filled with a promo for Habana`s Malecón (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
**
CUBA [non]. 6030, tuning by R. Martí at 0653 UT Sat Jan 23, sufficiently above
DentroCuban Jamming Command to tell they were talking about Tico Valdés.
Suspect another airing of ``Arte Latino`` apolitical show. They may be running
these evergreen episodes over and over (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
INDONESIA. 9526-, VOI good signal and fair modulation with music during English
hour, Jan 23 around 1335 check; but off the air at next check 1410 when the
Malay hour has been appearing sporadically (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
**
LAOS [non]. Checking WHRI 11785, Sat Jan 23: on the air at 1357 with gospel
huxter in English, 1359 to open carrier and off during the hour Hmong Lao Radio
used to emanate. 1519 recheck, back on with choppy Hmong talk, badly edited? for
the 1500-1530 semihour of Hmong World Christian Radio (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U K [non]. BBCWS publicity said they would start their own Creole-language
service Sat Jan 23 and thence daily carried on six FM stations in Haiti at
1410-1430, and `` It will also be available on shortwave.``. WTFK??? Forced us
to hunt, so we did so between 1405 and 1425 Jan 23, scanning all broadcast bands
twice between 5 and 18 MHz (even -22 MHz just in case), and not a trace of it.
No suspicious unID signals anywhere even with music which could be this.
We
can confidently say that if BBC Krèyol is really on SW, it`s not at the same
time as on FM. Same press referred to the existing 12-13 transmission via WHRI
9410 and GUF 11860, which has been converted from all-Spanish to Spanish and
English, but did not say that the Creole service would be inserted into that,
unmonitored today. Seems unlikely, as that would be some two hours earlier than
the FM relay.
Alokesh
Gupta found out additional info about BBC Creole: It`s produced in Miami and
presented by Carline Faustin and Simone Degraff, who host a Creole language
program on Miami's public radio, WLRN, but produced and edited by several BBC
personnel. Plans to maintain it at least until Sunday 7 Feb. The FM affiliates
are those of Radio France Internationale, thru which the pre-recorded program is
routed (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U S A. Re: Haven`t heard WTWW testing the last few days on 9480 or 5755, so I
asked George McClintock how things are going. He says a long test period is
scheduled for Saturday Jan 23, times here changed to UT:
1600-1900
9480
1900-2200
9475
2200-2400
9480
0000-0400
5755 [UT Sunday]
``All
this assumes that we have no problems. This will be a test to see how the
transmitter and other equipment hold up with extended transmission time.``
(Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST 10-03)
And
it`s on and running! Huge steady S9+25 signal here with classic rock `n` roll
music at 1608 Jan 23. Frequent IDs by Ted Randall, asking for reports to
tedrandall @ tedrandall.com
Stayed on except for a brief transmitter break at 1656. And cut off again
abruptly at 1726, stayed off until resuming at 1737. The shift to 9475 at 19-22
is because YFR is using 9480 during those two sesquihours via Nauen. Good music,
but I suspect that will not be its main format once WTWW is in regular service
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U S A. 7490, WWCR-3, Sat Jan 23 at 1346 with gospel music, hyper DJ inviting
participation by singing groups; not laid-back Rock the Universe with Rich
Adcock. Jan 1 online program schedule no longer shows RTU at all on WWCR, but
Sat 13-14 is Inspirations Across America, and 1400-1430 Country Crossroads.
Nevertheless, at 1412 check it was the piano lady with her Musical Memories,
consistently filling that semihour instead (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
**
U S A [and non]. Despite previous info from Media Network that the Bonaire relay
of Lavwadlamerik on 6135 at 1230-1330 would be expanded from M-F to daily,
nothing there at 1325 check Sat Jan 23, nor on // 9505 Greenville ex-9660 as
heard the day before. At least we think the latter be Greenville; if Krèyol
service demands exceed capacity there, more ad-hoc relays via other sites might
ensue. Absence of the morning broadcast matches press claims of 9.5 total hours
on weekends, 10.5 on weekdays, as we had calculated in previous post
constructing full overt and covert schedule.
9310,
VOA English at 1521 Jan 23 via Tinang, PHILIPPINES westward, on the threat of
invasive Asian carp to lake Michigan, how to keep them out with barriers? On the
Environment Report, ending all too soon at 1523 for silly sports segment. Here`s
one of many stories, more about the carp:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/21/asian-carp-michigan-rep-i_n_432255.html
(Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
ALBANIA [and non]. R. Tirana, 0000-0130 Albanian service to North America, 7425,
Jan 23 at 2358 IS but poor signal, and not much audible after 0000. Chinese had
been on 7425 around 2355, which is CRI via Kunming. CRI is also scheduled on
7425 in English via Kashgar at 00-01. R. Tirana`s other frequency from Shijak,
6130, had much better signal at 0006 Jan 24, no QRM, but just barely modulated.
Meanwhile
noted rapid clicking QRM covering 7432-7436 or so which at first I thought was
spur from DentroCuban jamming on 7405, but clix still there when jamming had
ceased after 0000. Fortunately, no broadcasts scheduled on 7435 until 0030
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
ARGENTINA. Since 11710v was reactivated on Jan 22-23, I look for the other
frequency from same transmitter, 15345, at the earliest opportunity, scheduled
from 2000 on Saturdays with R. Nacional relay. Jan 23 at 2057 there is a weak
signal, sounds Spanish rather than Arabic --- where is Morocco? Is it off or not
propagating? By 2157, 15345 considerably stronger and definitely in Spanish,
2100 precisely accurate 5-pip timesignal, and talking about Argentina. Still no
sign of Morocco, no het. LRA close to 15345.0.
Next
check at 2355 music and Argentine-accented talk, 2358 giving an e-mail address
for R. Nacional, or maybe it was a government PSA. UT Jan 24: 0004 saying they
were now transmitting from Mar del Plata. On UT Sundays they stay on 15345 until
sign off nominally at 0230, while on Sundays they use 11710v instead from 1800
to 0300 UT Mondays.
As
for the 25m channel, which I estimated at 11709.4 based on my one-kHz stepping
up and down on the YB-400, Giampiero Bernardini in Italy was listening at about
the same time from 0040 UT Jan 23, and put it on 11710.56 drifting upward very
slowly by about 1 Hz per minute. He also has an FRG-7 but can measure
frequencies much more accurately with SDR-IQ and/or AOR AR7030. Apparently I got
it on the wrong side of the center channel.
Wolfgang
Büschel reports that RAE is back on the air because a new tube has been
installed, while Gabriel Iván Barrera previously told us that purchase of a
whole new transmitter had been approved in November, so was there a
misunderstanding or is the new transmitter still on the way? (Glenn Hauser, OK,
DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
ECUADOR [non]. HCJB via CVC CHILE, 11920 in Portuguese, Jan 24 at 0008 *still*
with dirty FMy mushy spurs including obviously // audio around 11900 and 11940.
How can either organization allow these to go on and on? Is anyone paying
attention? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U S A. Lavwadlamerik, again Jan 23 with fill-in secret transmission on 15390
until 2100* sharp, and up on successor 13725 at *2102:30. After 2200, 15390 was
off while 13725 remained on; and by 2201, 11905 had also come on late.
Another
check at 2359: the secret 7590 channel, only fair signal, cut off with
programming in progress at 2359:50*. Expected it back on within two minutes, but
instead it did not resume until 0007 Jan 24. Wonder why it took so long.
Meanwhile
I was also checking the VOA Spanish service which starts at 0000: 9885 was on
with music fill shortly after, but // 5890 took a few more minutes to come up,
confirmed at 0009.
Repeatedly
not being able to start a transmission by the top of the hour certainly looks
amateurish. Back at HQ they apparently don`t understand that frequency changes
cannot be made in a few sex on these old transmitters, and need to build in flex
programming time at the end of hours, or just plain pauses for switching time.
Many other SW stations have the same disconnect (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
**
U S A [and non]. WTWW rock music and ID testing continued July 23 on 9480 until
1900 when as scheduled shifted to 9475 to avoid YFR. No difference in signal
strength here, unlike some other places. Only problems, occasional usually brief
carrier drops off the air due to some failsafe circuit, and I ceased to keep
track of those exact lapses. 2200 back to 9480 still with VG signal. But must
have faded down with the sun, as by 2355 was not hearing it at all, or maybe
off; instead, some other weak station, probably the Tibetan service CNR-11 which
starts 9480 at 2155 via Baoji-Sifangshan 724 site per Aoki.
Kept
checking 5755 for WTWW`s evening test, but nothing there yet by 0009, while WWRB
was in well on 5745, so WTWW must not have been on. Still no sign of it at 0054
so the 5755 test may have been scrubbed tonight (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING
DIGEST) ###
**
CHINA. Tuning by 9605, Jan 25 at 1335 heard English ``This is CNR News``, back
to Chinese, but more English bits later mixed in such as ``The sound of China
evening news``. Apparently they think it`s cool to throw in English phrases. I
have a hard time imagining any US domestic service throwing in Mandarin
comments.
Guess
what: if you check HFCC, you will not find any such China transmission, but you
will find BBCWS in Mandarin via Singapore, 1300-1530. That`s because the cynical
ChiCom are using CNR1 programming here as one of countless jammers against any
Western objectivity getting into the country. And they have the gall to pretend
to participate in HFCC, failing to register little things like this.
7585
with Firedrake jamming, Jan 25 at 1452 // weaker 8400. 7585 a new spot for it,
but why? The only thing scheduled there is Vatican Radio in Tamil via
Tajikistan, 1450-1510, says Aoki. At 1502 the 7585 FD was in usual hourtop
open-carrier pause supposedly for monitoring, but I could hear nothing else.
Resumed music modulation at 1504:40. At 1508 FD also // poorly on 9000 as well
as 8400, none higher. Next check of 7585 at 1519, it`s gone, still on 8400,
9000. Meanwhile, several CNR1/jammers in the 7300-7535 range were still well
audible. So was 7585 a mistake, or did Sound of Hope try to slip in there, or
did Vatican switch from Tamil to a more sensitive language, bringing down the
wrath of Chan, or rather SAFRT? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
INDIA. 1330 UT Jan 25, scheduled Republic Day eve speech by President Mrs.
Pratibha Devisingh Patil: in progress in Hindi at tune-in 1335 on AIR NC 9425,
and better four seconds later on AIR VBS 9870. Not on GOS English frequency
9690. At 1345 searched 60m for her, and audible on 4920 Chennai, weaker Mumbai
4840. I could tell it was the same speech tho not synchronized with 9870. Also
checked 7.3-7.5 MHz area just in case, but daytime frequencies probably not in
use.
Kept
listening on 9870, and rewarded by abrupt switch to English at 1352 as she
started the speech over, greeting military and security forces, quoting M.
Gandhi, extolling harmony and secularism, respecting all religions. A
wide-ranging pep talk, sort of a ``state of the union``, touching on climate
change, carbon footprint; India fourth largest economy in the world, second in
population, seventh in area. Ended on 9870 at 1411. I wish advance publicity had
made clear she would also speak in English.
Meanwhile
I had rechecked AIR GOS 9690 at 1402 and there she was in English but not
matching any other frequency. Turns out this playback started about nine minutes
later as it did not end until 1420, with announcer admitting that it was
recorded, on the eve of the 61st Republic Day. Also audible on // 13710 vs Cuban
leapfrog.
1422
with editorial criticising racially-motivated attacks on Indians in Victoria,
Australia. 1426 economic review. But the speech knocked regular programming out
of whack as there was no Faithfully Yours mailbag at 1430; 1437 check, music and
talk about something else.
The
next big broadcast for Republic Day starts at 0350 UT Jan 26, live coverage of
the parade with separate frequencies for English and Hindi, usage differing from
an ordinary day. But not likely to reach the other worldside from mid-day.
Details:
http://alokeshgupta.blogspot.com/2010/01/special-broadcasts-by-air-for-republic.html
(Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
INDONESIA. 9526-, VOI, Jan 25 around 1330 poor signal and modulation during
English, het 9530. Recheck at 1416 now in the clear at S9+20, but just open
carrier to 1417* (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
MEXICO [and non]. 6185, just open carrier at 0618 Jan 25. XEPPM or ZYE365?
Probably the former lacking modulation as it`s a bit early for RNA to be on.
Yes, at 0634 RNA had come on modulated with SAH against XEPPM on the lo side
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
NEW ZEALAND. 6170, RNZI, Monday Jan 25 at 1329 concluding Dateline Pacific, and
starting Mailbox a minute early as usual, but after a six-week summer holiday
hiatus. Usual co-channel interference from Russia, and SAH, so I`ll demand the
audio sometime in the next month.
http://www.rnzi.com/audio/mailbox.mp3
plays it, and once another show is up a fortnight hence, this Jan 25 show will
be demoted to http://www.rnzi.com/audio/mailbox2.mp3
for another biweek before vanishing forever.
It
did start, also as usual, with a Maori song, which seems odd for a mailbag show
which should have plenty of letters and DX news piled up by now. Are there not
lots of other opportunities to play music on RNZI? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
**
SPAIN. Looking for weekly Sephardic service from REE, Monday Jan 25 at 1435, but
nothing audible, not even a carrier. Propagation from Europe not very good, but
REE Spanish on 15585 was poorly audible. So did Emisión Sefarad finally switch
to the announced frequency 15325? If so, bad news, as it`s blocked by something
else, YFR due east from Wertachtal, GERMANY, in Oriya, a S Asian language. And
also with heavy splatter from R. Martí/DCJC on 15330. 15385 still missing at
later chex before 1455 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
TURKEY. 11660, VOT IS of piano variations, Jan 25 at 1456, mixing with something
else talking, producing a SAH, which could be RA and/or VOR. 1500 almost-correct
timesignal but too undermodulated to make out language. Scheduled as Arabic via
Çakirlar. 11815 in Turkish had its own SAH with REE/Costa Rica before 1500
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U K [non]. Since the BBCWS press release about their new Creole service was not
explicit about the SW frequency for the 1410-1430 UT broadcast also on FM, and I
could not find it by monitoring on the first day, Jan 23, I then enquired. Mark
Deutsch, Head of Broadcast Networks, replied:
``The
BBC Creole is on short wave, but not at 1410. It's at,1232:30-1252:30 on 11860 (MSY)
and 9410 (HRI), borrowed from the Spanish service to Cuba.``
Which
I have not yet monitored directly (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U S A. Follow-up to last report about WTWW`s long-hours test on Jan 23 [not July
23 as I wishfully must have thought! Please correct that if copying]: George
McClintock tells me that WTWW was off the air until about 0130 UT Jan 24 as he
was repairing a water leak in the cooling system, but then back on 5755 and well
audible here; planned to stay on until 0400 and if all goes well may not need to
test on air much afterwards this week.
Ted
Randall, whose recorded IDs and requests for reports had been playing every few
minutes, went live from his home studio at about 0300, responding to e-mails,
shortly taking phone calls to a toll-free number 1-877-511-8890. He asked just
about every caller if they were a ham operator, and just about everyone said no.
I did not catch any of their names. George McClintock was also on the air by
phone at 0337-0341, and again at 0430, as the transmission was extended until
0436*. Apparently no further on-air testing Jan 24 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U S A [and non]. Lavwadlamerik, VOA Creole service, Monday Jan 25 at 1319
interviewing Dominican Republic ambassador, poor-fair on 6135 via Bonaire,
better on Greenville (?) 9505. The 1230-1329 broadcast is still M-F only, and
will remain so, says Andy Sennitt; altho Terry Krueger heard an open carrier
during the entire period Sunday on 6135 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U S A. WRMI update: still QRP, but French to Haiti -- Glenn: We are still using
the auxiliary [5 kW] transmitter, which has been working pretty well. But we
aren't running 24 hours, as we have to give it breaks so it doesn't overheat.
Reports are good from the south.
We
did start on Thursday of this week a daily (Monday-Friday) hour in French for
Haiti (and French-speaking Caribbean) 1200-1300 UT Mon-Fri. Currently we're
running Radio Prague in French from 1200 to 1230, Vatican Radio newscast in
French from 1230 to 1245, and UN Radio in French 1245-1300.
We're
working on some religious programs in Creole for this block as well, and we're
trying to get some fix-tuned radios sent to Haiti. This should be a long-term
commitment for us; not just for the immediate crisis. Propagation analysis from
Miami to Port au Prince at 1200 UT looks really good.
We
have found some of the parts we've been needing for the transmitter and antenna.
Our consulting engineer should be getting here from Panamá any day now, so in
the coming days we will hopefully have the main transmitter back on air and the
North American antenna back to normal (Jeff White, WRMI, Jan 23, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
The
M-F 12-13 French/Creole? Block on 9955 bumps off two airings of WORLD OF RADIO
and some other DX programs. Last we checked, the DentroCuban jamming did not
ramp up until 1300. But considering the continuing jamming problem on 9955, are
you sure you want to commit to fix-tuned radios??
Heavy
jamming on 9955 as usual from 1330 past 1500 Jan 25, abating a bit to pulsing
rather than noise wall at 1513 check when I could detect some music underneath,
unknowable whether it was WRMI with Prague relay or YFR Taiwan in Russian, but
suspect the latter (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U S A [and non]. 11675, Jan 25 at 1500 AWR sign-on in English, Nepalese to
follow. Aoki says via Wertachtal, GERMANY, and followed by English at 1530. I
hope the next Nepali census determines just how many Seventh-Day Adventists
there are, as I find it hard to imagine how one could retain any traditional
culture once becoming an SDA. World Almanac 2002 calculated Nepal is 90% Hindu,
5% Buddhist, 3% Moslem, leaving 2% for everything else, but of course other
Christian sects are also doing their damnedest to make inroads.
AWR
also working on the Turx, Jan 25 at 1511 on 11780 via AUSTRIA, and just as good
a signal if not better than Anguilla 11775. At 1515 one hymn had some English
lyrix, including ``blood, crimson red,`` oooh; 1516 YL announcement in Turkish.
More music until 1529* (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
ARGENTINA. 15345, the 8-note RAE IS fair at 2157 Jan 26, following German
broadcast; had I realized that Aoki shows a one-hour gap until Spanish from
*2300, I would have stayed tuned a bit longer to reconfirm that Spanish axually
starts at 2200 weekdays, as per WRTH (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
CUBA [and non]. 11600, jamming still going at 2202 Jan 26, later than usual?
Altho maybe not continuously since it started at 1600. Now it`s pulsing, which
means maybe only one of multiple transmitters which add up to walls of noise.
Tried comparing it to 11930, and much stronger pulsing there matched, exactly
synchronized at the rate of four per second, except the pitch was slightly
higher on 11930, where Radio Martí had just closed (BTW, Aoki somehow misses
Martí on this frequency). We remained baffled why the DCJC runs jammers on
11600, where nothing at all is known to be broadcasting after 1600 --- but hey,
no better place for them!
15360,
Jan 27 at 1445, RHC`s Formalmente Informal, a lo-fi interview mixing with
something in Persian, about equal level and precisely zero beat, so rather
confusing as they took turns dominating. Latter is RFI Issoudun at 1430-1500
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
CYPRUS. OTH radar, presumed from here, but maybe not, Jan 27 at 1450 spanning
15745-15815, with peaks at odd spots such as 15780 and 15810, so most damaging
to Galei Zahal, ISRAEL on 15783.6 and BBC Arabic on 15790, which is definitely
Cyprus; overshadowed by the Saudi buzz, q.v. (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
**
EGYPT. 15080, R. Cairo, poor with distorted modulation as always on this
frequency, music at 1430 Jan 27, into 4+1 timesignal 35 seconds late, Cairo news
theme and distorted talk in Arabic. This is 13-16 via Abis site to West Africa,
where they`d better set their clox by something else (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
**
OMAN. 15140, R. Sultanate of Oman, fair signal but barely audible modulation,
1433 Jan 27 with YL in English news mentioning Baghdad, and highly likely it was
bad news (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
RUSSIA [and non]. 9996, binary code at 1255 Jan 27, presumably RWM, and beating
against WWV/H on 10000 where there was also a fast SAH indicating some other
station`s frequency was not standard at all (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
**
SAUDI ARABIA. I thought the Buzzing Service of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was
bad the day before, but much worse on Jan 27, a new record: first check at 1500,
the horrible 15435 transmitter was audible just between 15390 and 15460, leaving
e.g. fluttery Spain 15385 in the clear.
But
at 1518 If found that blotted out, with the buzz now extending from 15270 to
15775! I can`t begin to enumerate all the stations this was interfering with,
but who cares?
The
edges reduced to just pulsing of four times per second, ranged 15270-15300, and
15630-15775, leaving the full brunt at 15300-15630. The upper end overlapped OTH
radar from 15745, see CYPRUS. Standard but amplified remarks of incredulity over
the Saudi monstrosity (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
SOLOMON ISLANDS [non]. SIBC missing from 5020 for at least a week in chex around
1300-1430, including Jan 27 at 1307, when no carrier at all detectable. This is
because they have ceased overnight relays of BBCWS which used to start at 12 UT,
due to power expense of over US$11K per year, per Media Network blog:
http://blogs.rnw.nl/medianetwork/sibc-drops-nighttime-relays-of-bbc-to-save-money
(Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
TUNISIA. 7275, RTT music had just switched to announcement when cut to brief OC
and off the air at 0626:50* Jan 27 while // 7335 continued. This is a
consistently odd closing time for 7275, contrary to published schedules; as for
7335 closing, on the schedules as 0910, Noel Green says it goes off around 0810,
and Wolfgang Büschel heard it until 0807* (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
**
U K [non]. Jan 27 was monitoring barely early enough to hear the conclusion of
BBC`s new Creole service, VG on 9410 via WHRI; a bit of music at 1250, then
closing announcement giving the only time for ``Connexion[s] Haïti`` (pardon my
French) as 9:10 am, which is 1410 UT when it repeats on Haitian FM stations; as
usual, shortwave gets no respect from the BBC, just an afterthought if we are
lucky. Or in this case, a beforethought.
At
1252:30 introduced in Spanish classical music fill show 19 minutes later than
previously, which would last only 7.5 minutes until 1300:00* sharp without
announcement, matching a timesignal underneath which must have been BBC Oman
just overtaking the channel.
Altho
this is the least of their problems, now the Haitians are faced with a logjam of
special programming at 1230, from VOA, BBC and WRMI. A bit of coördination
rather than competition would be nice (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U S A. 9955, straining to hear WRMI`s new French service to Haiti, Jan 27 at
1257, very weak signal I was about to conclude to be in French when DentroCuban
Jamming Command cut on at 1257:40 with one pulser, quickly joined by others, and
a pileup noise wall before 1300 when WRMI presumably is running a new Cuban
exile program daily, Radio Libertad until 1400. But Cuba was jamming this hour
anyway for months when it contained no contrary programming, just victimized DX
and other innocent shows.
WRMI`s
website still has not been updated to tell us anything about Radio Libertad: http://www.wrmi.net/schedule.php
but it allegedly is not strictly an anti-Castro show. Close enough.
WRMI
is not only on the SSE antenna at this time but on the backup 5 kW transmitter,
pending repairs, making it virtually inaudible here, and not a chance of
overcoming jamming, which the Cubans keep on thru the 1400 hour for good measure
against DX and other programs, and even past 1500 when R. Prague is relayed in
English.
Jeff
White says the 12-13 M-F hour is now occupied by programs in French for Haiti:
Prague, Vatican and UN Radio, perhaps to be replaced by religious programs in
Creole when available (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U S A [and non]. Lavwadlamerik, Jan 27 at 1305 on 6135 via Bonaire, 9505
presumably Greenville, with announcement over sad piano music reminiscent of Sea
Breeze. This semihour does not conflict with Haitian services from BBC and WRMI
at 1230 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U S A [non]. As I tuned in 15315, Jan 27 at 1438, heard gruff announcer mention
``shortwave radio station``, then ``Family Radio`` and later, ``Open Forum``,
but otherwise in a S Asian language. Aoki shows it`s Malayalam, since Dec 30 at
14-15 via Wertachtal, GERMANY (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U S A [non]. 17610 with extremely repetitious rustic melody of only a few notes
up and down being sung at 1456 Jan 27, 1458 briefly to other music before cut
off at 1458:40 without any announcement. Another example of AWR`s Afar service
via AUSTRIA, to what must be a tiny minority, Adventist Afars, but AWR voices
hope of their peculiar sect catching on from afar (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
**
FRANCE [non]. 11605, good in rapid-paced French morning program, Jan 28 at 0655;
sounded like commercials, but surely not on RFI, which is scheduled here via
SOUTH AFRICA, 0500-0700 but only 100 kW at 345 degrees, consequently USward as
well. 0700 time signal about 7 seconds late, 8 am timecheck in Paris, news, but
cut off abruptly at 0702* --- another example of sloppy operations at SENTECH,
Meyerton (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
INDONESIA [and non]. VOI, 9526-, Jan 28 at 1459 was on causing heavy het to CRI
9525.0 via EAST TURKISTAN, and also still at 1508 when CRI was trying to talk to
us in English.
RRI,
9680 much better in the clear at 1459 Jan 28, good with gamelan orchestra and
singing. This continued right thru hourtop until 1504 when switched to a bit of
Western orchestral music and then cut off the air at 1504:30* without any ID,
announcement or sign-off (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
MEXICO [and non]. 6104.8v, Jan 28 at 0724 the irrepressively peppy upbeat music
XEQM plays in the nitemiddle for insomniax, several sex of dead air, then YL DJ
and produced IDs mentioning 95.3, ``la más grande``. Good at peaks revealing
somewhat distorted modulation, but usual deep fades. 0728 she gave timecheck for
1:29 over music, then also put phone caller on air. 0729-0731 a carrier went on
and off a couple times on 6105.0 causing het: probably TWR tuning up prior to
its 0745 start via Nauen (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
ROMANIA. 15235, Jan 28 at 1525 SW Asian language talk and music, lively show but
could not catch ID. Did not think it was Arabic, until uplooked later and found
RRI is scheduled in Arabic 15-16 on 15235, 247 degrees from Tiganeshti. Maybe
that`s what Arabic sounds like with a Romanian accent (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
**
SAUDI ARABIA. Buzzing Service of the Kingdom of Sa`udi Arabia, 15435 transmitter
still blotting large portion of 19m Jan 28 at 1530, but somewhat less than on
Jan 27. Exact range varies from minute to minute, as well as from day to day,
probably more due to intensity of propagation than of transmission. On a much
less sensitive receiver, it was much less noticeable.
The
4-per-minute pulsing at the edges reached 15160-15220, the full brunt
15220-15500, but not much above 15500 as it`s assymetrical --- altho with such a
wide blob, could be riding or bridging the MUF. Final check at 1555 found the
boundary between pulsing and brunting around 15250 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U S A [and non]. A few hours before President Obama`s State of the Union
address, I found out the special frequencies VOA was going to use to broadcast
it live at 0200-0330 UT Jan 28:
Africa:
909, 1530, 4930, 6080, 9885, 15580
Asia:
11705, 11745, 13680, 15260, 15445, 15520, 17845
Middle
East: 9550, 9780
Not
expecting to hear much in the night from relays presumably Eastern-Hemispheric,
I quickly tuned thru the list around 0209 UT. The only ones heard for sure were
4930, when the President had not quite started and the announcer mentioned voanews.com;
shortly afterwards found 9885 better as welcoming applause was ongoing. Nothing
audible on the others except traces of carriers on a few of them. Both 4930 and
9885 normally open at 0300 via Botswana, but the earlier hour could also have
been via São Tomé, or even Greenville on 9885.
BTW,
I also noticed that the secret VOA Creole transmission at 02-03 was lacking 7590
but still on 7465, apparently not covering the speech. Perhaps the 7590
transmitter was needed for SOTU; we`ll have to see if it`s back following
nights.
REE
Spain has also been known to broadcast voice-over translations of such
significant US live events on 6055, but not this time (Glenn Hauser, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
**
COLOMBIA [and non]. Tnx to Jim Evans tip from Tennessee on WORLD OF RADIO 1497,
I made a point of looking for the harmonic on 2980, which he heard at 0647 Jan
26. Yes, Jan 29 at 0611 definitely something on 2980.0, very weak music vs QRN
level now including lite T-storming close enough to propagate but not nearby.
Still just barely audible at 0630, never heard anything but music.
He
had an ID at 0650 for R. Vida Nueva. Will keep trying. WRTH 2010 says it`s HJAY,
Barranquilla with 5 kW on 1490, slogan ``te acerca a Dios``, so the music should
be nothing but religious. It had also been reported months ago, but not lately.
I`m
sure that the other active MW harmonic, R. San Carlos, Costa Rica, 2859.8 would
be much stronger if they would only stay on the air past 0200v.
The
harmonic on 2980 making it all the way from Colombia speaks well for the
technical standards of the hundreds of US stations on 1490. Decades ago, one
could depend on there being a few harmonics audible at any given time on 2 x
graveyard frequencies, 2460, 2480, 2680, 2800, 2900, 2980, and the probabilities
are still highest on those channels (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See
also USA: 4050
**
KOREA NORTH [non]. 5910, Shiokaze, Friday Jan 29 at 1410 with heavily accented
English headlines from earlier in January about North Korea, interrupted by
their newsy stinger every minute. F-G signal via JAPAN, no jamming audible. Ron
Howard found them also in English on Thursday, which is unusual (Glenn Hauser,
OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
LIBYA. 21695, Voice of Africa, OSOB, Jan 29 at 1508 in English, but better on //
17725, ``dawn of a new age thru the African Union``, 1511 outroing a talk on
``the devolution of Al-Fatah``, or so it sounded to me; 1512 ID ``Voice of
Africa from the Great Jamahiriyah`` and then hilife music (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
**
SAUDI ARABIA. From 15435 transmitter, Buzzing Service of the Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia, checked again Jan 29 at 1502: full brunt of huge buzz interfering with
numerous other stations ranged approximately 15380-15680, with the 4-per-minute
pulsing at the edges 15680-15780, and 15350-15380. Strong signal from Portugal
on 15690 was still not enough to overcome the pulsing. Then the upper pulse
range became 15480-15780, instead of full brunt up to 15680. Exact ranges vary
from minute to minute; at 1518 check, full brunt was 15300-15650, bad news for
Greece on 15650, while 4x/minute pulsing reached 15650-15770 and 15240-15300,
conveniently short of QRMing the // BSKSA Qur`an channel 15225.
Since
SA won`t do anything about it, a precision air strike could take it out, but
probably not without also destroying several other transmitters at the same
Riyadh site. ITU ought to have its own air force for such situations (Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
U S A. Having heard the harmonic on 2980 from Colombia, q.v., I was motivated to
look again for the third harmonic of KWMO, 1350, ``The Mouth``, Washington MO on
4050, Jan 29 at 0616: yes, intermittent bits of US talk in English, but mostly
ute QRM. Since there was any signal at all from presumed KWMO, probably another
instance of running day facilities at night. Still no Truth from Guatemala on
4052.5 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
AUSTRALIA [and non]. Is Darwin still on the air January 31? Yes! But it should
be the last day ever.
UT
January 30 at 2159 I look for the three frequencies scheduled to start at 2200,
9585 CVC Chinese, 9630 RA Indonesian, and 12010 RA English --- nothing. But
Maltilda is Waltzing on 15560, loud and clear from Shepparton; path from Darwin
is rather different, but there should be some traces if on the air.
Then
at 2200 I find RA on 12040 in English, which is the new Palau relay, news
running about 3.5 seconds behind 15560. Must be quite a circuitous feed route;
since VTC is involved, to London and back?
Finally
at 2201 I am also hearing RA English on 12010, and that is Darwin, with a much
shorter delay, less than one second or about one word behind 15560. It`s weaker
than 12040. Must have come on a bit late, or at least without any prélude.
By
2206 I check the 31m channels again, and now I am getting them fairly: 9585 with
music which I assume is CVC Chinese service, and 9630 in Indonesian talk, soon
music, which fits for Radio Australia.
The
fourth transmitter starts at 2300 with CVC Indonesian on 15250 (some sources say
15255), so here I repeat the full schedule showing that also at 2300 the 9585
service switches to 15170, and the 12010 service switches to Burmese.
9585,
2200-2300 340 CVC Chinese
15170,
2300-0200 340 CVC Chinese
17690,
0400-0600 340 CVC Chinese
17635,
0600-1200 340 CVC Chinese
13685,
1200-1800 340 CVC Chinese
15535,
0930-1230 303 CVC English
13635,
1230-1830 303 CVC English
15250,
2300-0200 290 CVC Indonesian
17820,
0400-1000 290 CVC Indonesian
9890,
1000-1300 290 CVC Indonesian
11925,
1300-1700 290 CVC Indonesian
-----------------------------------
11825,
1300-1430 340 RA Chinese
12010,
2200-2400 317 RA English [except Burmese 2300-2330]
17665,
0000-0200 317 RA English [except Burmese 0100-0130]
11980,
1600-1700 317 RA English
9630,
2200-2330 290 RA Indonesian
15180,
0000-0030 290 RA Indonesian
0400-0430
290 RA Indonesian
0500-0530
290 RA Indonesian
-----------------------------------
9880,
1430-1530 3 JCI Japanese - Furusato no Kaze, alt 11995
9690,
1500-1530 3 JCI Korean - Nippon no Kaze, alt
11650
-----------------------------------
17755,
0700-0800 317 TDP English DRM 17750-17760
(Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
CVC
Darwin rechecked shortly after 2300 UT Jan 30: 15170 audible weakly, succeeding
9585, used only for the first hour of CVC Chinese; 15250 for CVC Indonesian (and
15255) totally blocked by Venezuela via Cuba, of course. 12010 R. Australia no
longer // talk on 12040, 15560, but music presumably in Burmese service.
UT
Jan 31, surely the final day now, started checking at 1415:
13635
good with gospel rock or whatever they call such a format with indecipherable
lyrix, just as well. At 1415 mentioned ``cvcradio.in``. 1418 YL DJ with Oz
accent mentions this will be the final time on shortwave, so switch to mobile
streaming (yeah, right).
Then
greeted countless Kumars by the full name of each, of the Cosmos Club in India.
As usual fast-paced format suitable for those with deficient attention spans;
you never know when they are going to drop in an ID as the music plays.
BT