September 2008 ABDX Journal
Vol 3. Issue 9
Editors Corner:
ABDX membership has reached a new record at 194 members!
AM, LF and HF DX is going great guns in
September. This is the time for the High School Football STA! Stations will
stretch the limits of the rules to get that HSFB in and that gives you a big
chance to hear new stations.
What a month! We had Hurricane Gustav,
CFRX come back to the air, Hurricane Ike, KFI return to the air on a new antenna
and full power, an economic crisis that is incredible, and presidential debates.
It’s been busy.
Send us your picture! We enjoy seeing our members who have made
it to the “Hall of Fame” for those of us with faces for radio! It has been a
very long time since we have had new additions to the Rogues Gallery. If you are
a member and want to be in the Rogues Gallery, send your pix to webmaster@americanbroadcastdx.com.
We would love to see you in the gallery.
This is the site to join ABDX. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ABDX/
To join ABDX by mail here’s where to send the mail:
ABDX-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
The ABDX website URL is: www.abdx.org
The ABDX CME Journal is available to all at no cost. Please pass
it around to your DXing friends and also post it on other lists as well. We want
as many as possible to see the Journal so we can grow the DX hobby. Please do
your part to keep our hobby viable.
You can get your copy of the journal at www.abdx.org
Kevin Redding, Phil Rafuse, Powell Way, Mike Richard, Jay Heyl
and Martin Foltz the ABDX crew.
The Broadcast Band
9/5
Tonight Turkey on 1017 has been in most of the
night with very good signal. Unusual for it to be heard steady most of the
night.It usually fades in and out Those of you on the east coast may have your
best shot at it.9/6
9/12
They [KGOW] are strong under WQEW Disney here in central PA // their web stream with emergency reports from the storm.
I
left the recorder running on 1560 all night and got a few good clips of their
audio. If anyone is interested in comparing receptions, here is a sample: http://www.radiodxing.com/audio/dxclips/1560_KGOW_Houston_TX_0500_UTC_9-13-08.mp3
(~2:30 length)
710
WFNR VA Blacksburg - 09/12/08 0751 - Morning in America show. Good, steady
signal. "Morning in America on AM 710, WFNR".
9/11
CJLO 1690 Easy listening music, voice IDs "soon to be on the
air in Montreal" at
0006 EDT 9/11/08...
9/13
I
certainly tried for it [KGOW 1560] last night but just couldn't get anything. I
heard an english station and a SS mixing. The english was above at times
but just a bunch of network-type ads...nothing local. Never did figure out
who either of them was. Also tried for KTRH. And I could swear I
heard KTRH at one point but there was just such a mix there that I can't confirm
it. Many times at night 740 is hashed by KOAL (750)'s I-hash so I don't
usually get anything there anyway.
9/1
870 XETAR Guachochi, Chihuahua, a nice surprise just after 7:00 am Central while checking on WWL-870. Very loud over WWL with male and female announcers, nice full ID as "esta es aykis ay tay ah erray, la voz de la sierra tarahumara" (had to confirm the spelling of that last one via Fred Cantu's list!!), sounds effects of a rooster crowing, and some really primitive ranchera music----man and woman singing off-key accompanied by a badly-tuned, poorly-played guitar, sounding like a couple of "nacas," to use the Mexican slang for "hicks." WWL began to reassert itself and XETAR was totally gone by 7:15 am. I suppose this reception was possible through a skywave/seawave clash and cancellation thanks to the sunrise terminator. Nonetheless, a welcome catch!
I was surprised at how little special programming was on last night
for Gustav. WWL-870 was the leader, and I could tell WWWL-1350 was simulcasting
by paralleling it to WWL, but otherwise nothing audible here. Tried for
WIST-690, WASO-730, etc., all without success.
I was awake around 2:00 am Central this morning and listened to WWL
then and heard a live interview with New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin. When asked
whether he was optimistic about the levees holding in New Orleans, Nagin
replied, "I'm always optimistic. I wake up each morning with a rainbow in
my head."
I tried to get back to sleep, but every time I thought of what
Nagin said I got a bad case of the giggles.
9/7
1540 BAHAMAS ZNS Nassau surfacing amid the mess last night around
11:03 pm Central with hurricane programming. ZNS announcer was on the phone with
someone in the Bahamanian government----who had a VERY Bahamanian
accent-----advising listeners to stockpile drinking water in all available
containers "because there is a possibility of scattered water interruptions
for a few days" and also said residents of several islands "need to be
ready to move quickly if the situation deteriorates." At least the official
said New Providence would likely only receive winds of tropical storm strength.
At 11:10 pm, the announcer spoke via phone with persons on other islands about
storm preparations and emergency shelters on them. Signal was good on peaks but
heavy QRM at times from KXEL, XESTN, and XEHOS.
It looks as if Cuba is going to take a heavy hit from Ike, and I'll
be monitoring stations there this evening. Ike could also pose a threat anywhere
on the Gulf coast. Di and I have
already decided to head for San Antonio if it is projected to make landfall near
here at stronger than category 1.
Right now I am listening to Radio Rebelde on 1180 with special
coverage of Hurricane Ike, but some very strange audio----it appears as if there
are three or more stations carrying the programming, each about a half-second
apart from each other and making for some tough listening.
I'll have a longer report tomorrow, but all Cuban stations seem to
have broken from normal programming with the exception of Radio Reloj. I hear it
under KLIF on 570 with time pips and its "RR" ID in Morse,but too much
QRM to tell if they are airing hurricane info.
9/13
KSEV-700 and KTRH-740 are both loud here with hurricane
programming, apparently on day power/patterns.
KILT-610 seems to be on night facilities, judging by strength, but
they have broken with their sports talk format to carry hurricane coverage.
The big surprise is KPRC-950, which was carrying Bill O'Reilly on
night power. On the hour, they did have a local report on Hurricane Ike but back
to regular programming.
I tried to see if any of Houston's Spanish and Vietnamese/Asian
stations were carrying hurricane programming for their audiences, but found no
trace of them.
9/13
560 CUBA Radio Rebelde usually atop channel in absence of KLVI
Beaumont during 9:35-9:50 pm Central listening, mixing with a XE-sounding
station I'll try to ID after sensing this e-mail. Rebelde was parallel to 5025
SW.
950 CUBA Radio Reloj dominating seriously weakened KPRC-950 in Houston with usual time ticks and "RR" Morse IDs also during 9:35-9:50 pm period. KPRC was carrying Texas Tech football post-game show, so I first thought I had KJTV in Lubbock, but 'twas KPRC per quick ID break on post-game show and KPRC web site confirms. Much weaker than normal here, so I assume they must have sustained some antenna damage during Ike.
9/14
KLVI is still silent tonight, opening 560 kHz for DX. For the past
15 minutes or so, XEMZA has been surfacing past Radio Rebelde and another unID
XE with two full call letter IDs and vocals and banda music. However, no mention
of its city of operation. Cantu says Manzanillo, Colima but John Callarman's
excellent Mexican list says this might also be Guadalajara, Jalisco. What's the
current consensus?
Now back to the radio to see if I can ID that other XE. . . .
9/15
At top of hour----10:00pm
Central----caught nice full ID for "la ke buena," XEXZ in
Zacatecas, Zacatecas. The inevitable Radio Rebelde is in there along with a
couple of other Spanish stations that I hope will eventually surface and yield
their secrets. KLVI-560 is still off.
Go get 'em, Texas Radio Rangers!
Thanks to Qal R Man for his remarks earlier today re the XEMZA
mystery. I'm trying to hear them again tonight.
9/16
The Cuban on 530 is back tonight, although the signal is not as
strong as before its "departure" and the modulation is a little muddy.
10:17 pm Central.
9/20
Interesting
HSFB log last night on 770 around 10:15-10:25 pm Central under heavy KKOB, XEACH,
etc., QRM with game between "Denham" and the "Rangers."
Announcer remarked the game had been weather delayed and "we might be here
until two in the morning" if another thunderstorm rolled through. The
signal dove under the QRM at 10:25 and didn't resurface by 10:35 pm tune-out. I
did some Googling and found there is a Denham Springs, Louisiana, and high
school, so I suspect this was probably KJCB, Lafayette, LA. The one kicker is
that the Lafayette high school team is the "Mighty Lions" instead of
the "Rangers." The other likely candidate station, KAAM in
Garland/Dallas, doesn't carry HSFB per their web site. Anyone know of other
possibilities?
9/26
I
tuned 640 last night beginning at 10:00 pm Central and found a radio goulash of
WWLS with sports talk, Radio Progreso in Cuba, and XENQ in Hildalgo state. I
stuck with the channel, and around 10:10 pm bits and pieces of a talk show with
male and female hosts began to surface amid the mess. At 10:14, I caught a spot
for "Rock Honda" in Fontana, which seems pretty strong
evidence-----unless WWLS or XENQ is running ads for SoCal auto
dealerships-----that KFI was making it through. No ID, but I expect KFI should
now be easy around sunrise here with Progreso out of the picture.
I
stayed on the channel, and around 10:25 pm a new station began to emerge playing
the 1970 "McCartney" album-----Paul McCartney's first solo
album-----non-stop. I got to hear stuff I haven't heard since the Nixon
administration (like "Junk," "Man We Was Lonely," etc.) and
it went straight through 10:30 pm without any ID or other announcement,
eventually disappearing under Progreso/WWLS/XENQ around 10:33. I kept listening
to about 10:45 pm but no trace of the station. I've checked the Callarman/Cantu
XE lists and can't find anything remotely approximating the format I heard. If
anything, it reminded me of the non-stop music often heard on Radio
Chapingo-1610. I'll keep checking on this one.
12-655
9/29
1120 KZSJ San Martin CA 9/29/08 6:31-7:06+ PM PDT with Vietnamese
talk program with 2 men, English ID at ToH and a bunch of ads. CA #170 heard
without counting call changes.
9/12
Hearing
it [KGOW] in Carleton, MI, mixing with Disney pest from NYC..
9/13
I tried for KLVI last night, but didn't hear them.
Instead I heard a station talking about Charleston sports, and also
mentioned various places in Eastern Ohio, so I'm assuming that was previously
logged WJLS Beckley, WV. This was easily audible in the null of the useless WRDT
during the 2300 hour.
Since I'm on vacation this week, I decided to hop in my car and
take a drive. Since I'm in Dayton, I've decided to share what all I noted on the
road between Carleton and here.
Toledo:
Two stations running IBOC: WCWA-1230, and WSPD-1370.
The six towers formerly used by WDMN-1520 as their nighttime
facility that were at I-75 and the OH Turnpike are gone.
Interference: IBOC from WCWA-1230 made WERT-1220 Van Wert a very
difficult catch until past Findlay.
IBOC from WWJ-950 Detroit made Lima's ESPN 940 difficult until past
Findlay. (WWJ's analog signal was barely audible by this point, yet the IBOC
sidebands were blasting away.)
IBOC from WSPD-1370 made WCSM-1350 a very difficult catch until
about North Baltimore. They became "Acceptable" by Findlay.
STATIONS:
WCSM-1350 Celina is now Music Of Your Life
WERT-1220 Van Wert is Timeless Favorites
WPTW-1570 Piqua is NOT all talk, but more of a Classic Hits. (Hits
from the 70s, 60s, and early 80s.)
Just noted TODAY, 30 September 2008. Hope this answers a few
questions out there.
1070
PUERTO RICO WMIA, R Arecibo, Arecibo SEP 14 0154 - (presume)PTR
anthem followed by US anthem. No voice ID but apparent 0200 sign off. WRTH shows
R Arecibo s/off at 0200 Sun - Recorded - Fair
1070
CUBA Cadena CMKS, Guantanamo SEP 14 0257 - Man with news,
Guantanamo and Santiago mentions - Recorded - Fair - No ID but content presumed
CUB Guantanamo per Chuck Hutton and Henrik Klemetz via RealDX
1110
VENEZUELA R Carupano, Carupano SEP 14 0055 - Man with ID,
"En Venezuela, CarUPano", woman with plaintive love song - Good
1134
CROATIA Glas Hrvatske, Rasinovac SEP 14 0050 - Man operatic
singing, then bouncy folk song - Good with moderate splat from WBBR-NY
1305 SPAIN Radio Nacional
5, synchros SEP 14 0034 - // 603 Man reporting – Poor
580
PUERTO RICO WKAQ R Reloj, San Juan SEP 15 0903 - Morning news
team, promos, many Puerto Rico mentions and "WKAQ" IDs and jingles. -
Recorded - Good
684
SPAIN Radio Nacional 1, Doshermanas(Sevilla) SEP 17 2335 - //
621 Man in SS - Poor to fair in heavy WRKO-MA QRM
783
MAURITANIA Radio Mauretanie, Nouakchott SEP 17 0001 - // 4845
Man in Arabic - Fair signal but weak audio
1044
SPAIN SER, unknown loc SEP 18 0001 - // 1026 time pips at
hour, woman and man in SS with news - Poor in hash from WBZ and/or KYW IBOC
1026
SPAIN SER, unknown loc SEP 18 0001 - // 1044 time pips at
hour, woman and man in SS with news - Poor in hash from WBZ IBOC
1098
SPAIN Radio Nacional 5, synchros SEP 18 2332 - // 1125 Woman
in teletalk - Fair
1125
SPAIN Radio Nacional 5, synchros SEP 18 2332 - // 1098 Woman
in teletalk - Fair
1215 ENGLAND (UK) Virgin
Radio, Moorside Edge SEP 17 2336 - US pop & rock music, 2344 English
announcers in banter, 2352 Woman in sexy voice with "You are listening to
Virgin Radio soon to be known as Absolute Radio". - Fair to good - mixing
with presumed ESP COPE
1053 ROMANIA Radio Iasi,
Iasi SEP 20 0254 - Appears to be a s/on with interval signal verified per
<Interval signals online>, then woman gave <Radio Iasi> ID (phonetic
YASH) and frequencies, then into military style music, presumed anthem,
then man with talk. - Recorded - Good over UK TalkSport
1060 CUBA R veintiséis
(26), Matanzas SEP 23 0133 - ID intro theme music, then man with <Radio
veintiséis Cuba> ID, then man and woman with news.This is Pro Castro station
named after the July 26th revolution. - Recorded - Fair-good under WBIX-MA and
KYW-PA. ID verified Torolf Johnsson via RealDX
555
ST KITTS-NEVIS ZIZ Radio, St Kitts SEP 25 2259 - "You
Decorated my life" - Fair
612
MOROCCO RTM, Sebaâ-Aioun SEP 24 0003 - Man in Arabic - Good
720
VENEZUELA YVQE R Venezuela 'Oriente', Porlamar SEP 25 2315 -
Lively SS music, 2320 man with "en Venezuela, Oriente' - Good
750
VENEZUELA YVKS RCR 750 R Caracas, Caracas SEP 25 2330 - Woman
with news, then three minutes of promos, many "RCR" and
"online" and Venezuela mentions, then "Take me out to the ball
game" on organ presume prelude to baseball game. - Very good
1062
DENMARK DR P5, Kalundborg SEP 26 0359 - Guitar interval type
theme repeated three times, then man with ID in Danish - Recorded - Good
1071
SPAIN Euskadi Irratia, Bilbao SEP 24 0050 - two men in
discussion - Poor
1134
CROATIA Glas Hrvatske, Rasinovac SEP 24 0042 - Two men in
discussion, then male vocal group in Croatian - Very good, minor splat from WBBR-NY
1206
FRANCE France Info, Bordeaux-Néac SEP 24 0037 - Haunting
mellow music, movie theme like - Very good
1377 FRANCE France Info,
Lille-Camphin en Carembault SEP 24 0032 - Woman in French - Good
640
CUBA CMBC R Progresso, Guanabacoa SEP 29 0734 - Man with ID
"Esta es Radio Progresso Cadena …transmitiendo …" and time check -
Recorded - Fair
530
CUBA CMBQ R Enciclopedia, unk loc SEP 29 2358 - Woman in SS
with TOH "CMBQ" ID and Cuba mentions. "Easy listening"
almost rel music format - Recorded - Good. ID verified per Chuck Hutton via
RealDX who notes it is same xmitter used by Rebelde in the past
693
ENGLAND (UK) BBC Radio 5 Live, Various SEP 26 2334 - Two men
in discussion - Poor to fair
1566
BENIN Trans World Radio, Parakou SEP 12 0434 - Man preaching
in EE - Poor under heavy domestic QRM
1062
TURKEY (Prob) TRT Radio Diyarbakir SEP 26 0054 - Definite
Arabic chanting – Weak
700
VENEZUELA YVMH R Popular, Maracaibo SEP 30 0403 - Lively SS
rendition of "Working for the Yankee Dollar" and then Bells and man
with "Radio Popular" ID then time check - Recorded - good with WLW-OH
phased
Heard at 12 midnight September 3, 2008 on a Palstar R30A receiver
fed by a LF Engineering M-601C remotely located omnidirectional active MW
antenna:
960 CFAC Calgary AB - Top of the hour legal ID - weak but clear -
NEW!
CFAC is my first clear ID of a station west of the Ontario/Manitoba
border. It is my first Albertan and
the farthest west MW station I have ever picked up, or even suspected of picking
up. Normally, my MW DX is to the
east, as far the UAE in the middle East and as far south as Brazil.
I'm feeding the Palstar into a Centrios 7 speaker.
For those of you that remember, the Centrios 7 is very, very similar to
the Radio Shack Minimus 7 of many years ago.
The sound of the Palstar and the Centrious is very, very good.
The reviews etc. are right - the biggest thing that immediately
hits me about the Palstar is audio quality and, for the DXer, audio recovery.
Tune in a strong signal on the Palstar and it is much easier to identify
a weak station in the background. I
tried it on a few graveyard frequencies and it is amazing how distinct the
jumble becomes. Still a jumble, but
it sounds like several stations at once, rather than a muffled, rumbly mess.
ECSS is good, and very easy to use, provided that you don't mind a
bit of low frequency rumble or flutter. None
of this having to offset the tuning or mess with an IF shift/passband tuning
control. Just tune to the carrier
on AM, then select USB or LSB - very handy
for TAs.
Even on AM, the narrow 2.5 KHz Collins filter gives amazingly
decent sound for such a narrow filter. It
is muffled, but still much clearer than the 2.3 KHz filter on my Drake R8, plus
it doesn't have the hissy sound the Drake has on its narrow filters.
On the 5.8 KHz Collins filter, the Palstar sound quite pleasant - really
nice if one offtunes by say 2.5 KHz - I received very nice audio on 940 CINW
Montreal's Greatest Hits that way.
Some people will miss the bells and whistles.
I don't. But, it is nice to
have one or more receivers with bells and whistles to ride shotgun with the
R30A. My bells and whistles rigs,
Drake R8, Icom R71A, Ten-Tec RX-321 are still nice to have, and my R-390A is an
especially superb performer. But, the Palstar excells in being able to understand what is
being said - to hear IDs - on the tougher DX.
Romania 1053 and CKNB 950 [Your Community, Your Radio Station,
often paralling 900 CKDH except for the time delay!] are nice, nice catches!
September 4, 2008 11:46 ADT
980 CKRU Peterborough ON IDing as "Hometown Radio, 980 Cruise,
A Corus
Entertainment Station".
Heard last night - September 8, 2008 8:50 pm ADT on a
Collins/Teledyne R390A:
1322 KHz Iran featuring "Hit Chanting" :) NEW
Heard tonight - September 9, 2008 10:05 pm ADT on a Palstar R30A:
1690 KHz CJLO Montreal with ID [over CHTO Toronto - within moments,
CHTO's Greek music quickly overwhelmed CHLO] NEW
9/20
A few minutes ago, I pulled in 960 CFAC Calgary AB again on the
Palstar. With the Cuban station about equally strong. I then tried the R8 and
CFAC and the Cuban station were there too.
Just for kicks, I pulled out the Sangean PR-D5 and sure enough, it
was there too - the Sangean did very well.
Then I tried the Kaito KA2100 - it did the nicest job of all in
pulling in CFAC - because it was the best a nulling the Cuban station.
Go figure!
Both portables nekkid [no external antennas or loops].
Both desktops fed by a LF Engineering M601C active whip remotely located.
So, fellow easterners - you might want to try for CFAC tonight!
Once again, the DX hobby proves that a good, affordable receiver
can in many ways stack up very well against the budget buster stuff.
Heard on a Collins/Teledyne [Teledyne IF and RF modules, Collins
everything else] R-390A fed by LF Engineering M601C antenna: 11:07 p.m. ADT
650 WSM Nashville TN with station ID
WSM is fairly are around here.
Normally 650 CKGA Gander NL relays NL talk and C&W.
9/1
I
listened to WWL for a little while. It faded in and out a bit. Definitely not
the best reception I've gotten from them.
I
was getting rather strong signals from the north last night. WLS-890 from
Chicago was coming in with little competition. It's unusual to get that strong a
signal from them, particularly this time of year. WBBM and WGN were also in
fairly strong. WCBS-880 from New York was coming in almost like a local.
I
was getting one of the Cubans on 570 very strong. It usually is rather weak,
with local WDBO-580 making it a bit of a challenge to get anything on the
adjacents. Last night 570 was definitely holding its own against WDBO. (And the
ICF-S5W did a fine job keeping them apart.)
Turks and Caicos on 530 was silent and I wasn't getting anything on whatever station (I've always assumed a Cuban but never confirmed) is usually competing. This allowed beacons LYQ-529 and ZLS-526 to pop through even on the S5W loud and clear. I've heard them before using SSB, but it's rare to hear them with normal AM.
** OKLAHOMA. One of my three local AM stations, KGWA 960, whose
major lobe I inhabit, is normally tolerable away from 960, but UT Sept 4 at 0055
I found it was putting out dirty spurs audible between 860 and 1060, worst on
920, 1010, 1040, when checked on a 10-kHz-step receiver.
BTW,
the local morning 1200+ UT ``Total Information`` news show is televised on
Pegasys, local public access cable channel 12 at noon weekdays; more convenient
than reading the paper myself, and it sounds like the newscaster is doing just
that. Fun to watch him move around the studio, gulp coffee during an axuality,
rub his nose, adjust the pantograph inaudibly. That`s J. Curtis Huckleberry ---
his real name? See him at http://www.audiostream.net/KOFM/jcurtis2.html
To find anything about KGWA you have to go to the website of its FM master http://www.kofm.com --- even tho KGWA predates
it by sesquidecades
** U S A. 1600 kHz with persistent het I have been hearing for
years, somewhere around 100-200 Hz, at 1338 Sept 26. On the longwire aimed
toward Cushing OK, the nearest 1600 station, KUSH was dominant, and had a SAH,
so I think that was close to 1600.00. Most likely culprit is KRVA in The
Metroplex, which could also be heard at times in Vietnamese, but difficult to
correlate it with the off-frequency.
BTW, the 2008 NRC AM Log shows address for this in Houston, while the 2007 NRC AM Log had an address in Dallas. City of license remains Cockrell Hill, which is on the west side of Dallas. So what has Houston got to do with it? Is it now relaying a sister ethnic station there? Even so, doesn`t it have to maintain an address somewhere near the COL? Phone number also changed during the year
9/12
KWSX 1280 Stockton, CA is simulcasting KMRQ 96.7 Manteca, CA,
"Rock Ninety-Six Seven." First
noticed Sunday 09/07. KWSX is still
running IBOC.
9/2
From the AM blog on the station's website:
"Our test started off just as we expected it would. The
transmitter was left online for a 24-hour period and did not catch fire or
explode once. The very first stage of the test was to find out what effect the
long-term activity would have on the transmitter. We found that it ran hot, but
within acceptable levels. We also found that there was some minor interference
with the second harmonic. In very basic terms, the second harmonic is a
frequency that is mathematically related to 1690AM, and as such, we broadcast on
that frequency as well. Since we don't have CRTC permission to do so, we must
take steps at the transmitter level to cancel out this secondary signal. Our
initial early pre-tests showed that it was within acceptable levels of quietness
(around -80dB), but after a day of being on, the transmitter got a little loose
with the 2nd harmonic.
Right now, our AM guy is adding some new capacitors and other
electronic gear to create a "trap" for this second harmonic signal in
order to definitely bring the output down below -80dB. It should be done today,
but we have to wait for Industry Canada to confirm that our changes work
properly before we can go back on the air for a continued period of time. Check
back on Tuesday to hear more 1690AM in Montreal and environs."
It is now 3:25 on Tuesday afternoon and they are back on again. Very good signal in Ottawa. Some fading, but this is the best signal I've heard yet. Let's see if they'll actually leave it on the air overnight.
9/6
Heard Friday morning at 6:20.
Moderate signal on CC radio plus withno external antenna in an
environment with heavy rf interference. Heard a sketch with a father talking to
his son into short music bed and truck horn with "Los Amos Del Camino"
then "XEW, W radio" ID into
Government public service announcements. This is the first time I've logged them here in Ottawa.
I used to hear them when I lived in Toronto back in 96/97.
Fairly decent signal to overcome all the electrical noise in the house. When I lived in Iowa this was a very
strong nightly visitor, lighting 4 out of 5 signal lights on an old
AM stereo tuner I once had.
This is the second Mexican I've heard here this summer, the parent
station XEW 900 has been a regular visitor, sometimes over-riding CHML and
taking it right off the dial this summer.
On another note, CJLO 1690 AM Montreal has been given the green
light to test 24 hours a day now.
Night signal very strong here, at times equal or better than CINW 940,
CHTO Toronto underneath most times and an even mix at others.
WWL has had it's usual outstanding storm coverage, but WCBS's Iboc
has made it impossible to hear on any radio at times. Thursday night when the Yankees were playing the Iboc was off
and WWL had a very strong signal. The
advice and information the station has been giving
listeners/callers is exactly why radio is so important in the first
place. I'd like to see Iboc be
forced off of stations ADJACENT to stations like WWL in times of an emergency
and recovery, as the interference could be a threat to people's lives if they
can't hear the vital information due to the hash. Then again I'd like to see Iboc gone forever.
It's a disgrace. Kudos to WWL as always for living up to and exceeding it's on
air positioning as being the voice for the gulf south when bad weather hits..
9/22
They officially launched on Monday September 22. I caught them Monday night with a moderate signal with WTTM underneath. They're running Pacifica radio programming. I tuned in on my break at work from 7:50 to 8:00 PM. They had a talk show about with a piece on how Senator (and VP Candidate) Joe Biden had been involved with a piece of legislation aimed at giving financial relief to large banks like Lehman Bros. The programme ended and there was just a "WPRR Public Reality Radio" Id with no city of license mentioned into the top of the hour then into another programme. The station claims to be offering programming of an educational nature on politics, world affairs, religion and other topics. As with other Pacifica radio stations they are a non-comm.
Heard on an Eton E-1 and RS loop:
740 KTRH Houston, TX 9/11 2246 very unusual to hear here under C&W station presumed to be here in Tennessee and fighting also with CHWO. KTRH was talking about flooding up to 20 feet and waves possibly reaching 50 feet.
1560 KGOW Houston, TX 9/12 2145 with hurricane emergency data. Huge
signal.
Heard on a GE Digital Superadio nekkid:
1200 WJES Saluda, SC 8/14 2005 running high power and playing the
Carpenters "Goodbye to Love" and then Dean Martin.
Heard on the Eton E1-XM on the whip:
1580 WTTN Columbus, WI 8/15 0000 Popping out of a mess with a true
reverse Murphy's Law a ToH ID for this flea powered station. For me the catch of
the week, maybe even the month.
Heard on a Kenwood R-1000 and 300 foot BOG aimed ENE:
580 WGAC Augusta, GA 9/19 1903 with Atlanta Braves Baseball.
630 WBMQ Savannah, GA 9/19 1906 ID 630 WBMQ Savannah.
660 WFAN NYC, NY 9/19 2002 NY Mets getting beaten badly by Fla.
Marlins.
690 KGGF Coffeyville, KS 9/19 HSFB Coffeyville Golden Tornadoes.
820 WBAP Ft. Worth, TX 9/19 1910 Baylor v. U Conn.
860 WTZX Sparta, TN 9/19 1919 HSFB Brentwood Academy v. Baylor Red
Raiders.
880 WCBS NYC, NY 9/19 1921 NY Yankees Baseball, Suzyn Waldman
910 WEPG S. Pittsburg, TN 9/19 1924 HSFB ad for Tri-County Bank 517
8888 Wildcats and Pirates.
990 WEIS Centre, AL 9/19 2010 Cherokee County 28 Oneonta 7.
1080 WTIC Hartford, CT 9/19 1926 U Conn v. Baylor.
1110 KFAB Omaha, NE 9/19 1930 Nebraska Beef Council ad, talk about
CO
and NE football getting hammered by KMOX IBOC crap.
1180 WZQZ Trion, TN 9/19 1935 HSFB Indians 15-22 score, QRM R.
Marti
1180 R. Marti Marathon Key, FL 9/19 1935 QRMing WZQZ and HSFB.
1360 WNAH Nashville, TN 9/19 1940 HSFB 14-14 tie at the half.
1410 WHLN Harlan, KY 9/19 1945 HSFB HCTV ad 573-2945 on US 25.
1470 WBCR Alcoa, TN 9/19 1948 HSFB at half score 31-0 Alcoa Auto
Sales 983-6100 ad.
1521 BSKSA Saudi Arabia 9/19 2015 PRESUMED with a LOUD het beating
against station on 1520 and fighting IBOC crap.
1620 WNRP Gulf Breeze, FL 9/19 1953 HSFB score 21-0 T.J. Kane just
scored a TD. Game of the Week one team was W. Florida.
1640 WTNI Biloxi, MS 9/19 1959 HSFB Ft. Walton Beach v. Biloxi HS .
Heard on a nekkid CCRadio on the front porch:
1410 WIQR Prattville, AL 9/21 2259 with the final Yankees game in
Yankees Stadium. They beat the Orioles. ID given by a guy who had a
accent so strong it sounded like cornbread and syrup.
Heard on a Optimus 12-604 with 50 ft. wire:
610 WRUS Russellville, KY 9/15 1855 with a HSFB show.
Soon as the show was over, poof!
640 R. Progresso [t] Havana, CU 9/15 2130 with strong signal
playing Cuban style baladas, woman announcer mentioning Cuba.
800 UNID 9/15 2200 with a national anthem I do not know. when it
was over, things went quiet.
830 WCCO Minneapolis, MN 9/15 2203 with ID and local news.
850 KOA Denver, CO 9/15 2205 with meaningless Rockies game.
Heard on the CCRadio, nekkid:
1010 CFRB Toronto, ON 9/26 2349 My local WORM was OC on 1010 so I
figured I would give it a shot and was pleased to hear CFRB with a talk show and
into the time and ID. Was very weak but steady. Nice for me to hear them on MW.
Heard on a Sony ICF 2010 with Q-stick:
1130 KWKH Shreveport, LA 9/28 2200 ToH ID and Kubota tractor ad.
Unusual here at night.
Heard on the CCRadio, nekkid...
1540 ZNS Nassau, Bahamas 9/29 2330 Man announcer with Caribbean
accent and into Caribbean type music. Fighting with SS and sports. NEW!
1-Sep-08 // 1907 local // 1250 khz. // WLEM // 2.5 kw day // Emporium, PA // Female with "News, sports and great songs all day, 1250 WLEM" // New. A 181 mile catch.
9/6
Getting
Bahamas-1540 in well, with R&B-type mx, IDs as "National Voice of the
Bahamas" and "Bahamas Radio Network", also with some hurricane
info. Have them barefoot on the SRF-59 at 2015 EDT.
9/4
On
Tuesday I posted that IBOC was off of WGAC. I am sad to report it's now
back. I was hoping it was gone for good. You win some, you lose
some, and some are rained out.
9/7
1610
MEXICO XEUACH “Radio Universidad Autónoma de Chapingo”, Chapingo,
Estado de México; 0150 variety of jazzy music! always stronger near
their s/off of 0200*, ocassional SP talk by a M dj; Very Good for
250w!
9/21
1540 BAHAMAS; Caribbean pop music at 1931, ocassional M in EG, but too much splash from semi-local 50kW 1530; finally played the "Temptations" with :"Just My Imagination" and heard clearly "Classic Hits - Golden Oldies", "AM-1540 the National Voice of the BAHAMAS", then more caribbean style music, birthday greetings, etc...
I logged KFI, 640kHz, last night (9/29) between 11:15 and 11:30 CDT. Talk about the Vice Presidential candidates in the up coming election. ID as "KFI, 640, More stimulating talk" at 11:19. QRM from a Spanish language station. By 11:30 the SP station was on top. Distance from Aberdeen SD: 1304 miles.
New one here....WNQM-1300 on top of local KAKC 2255CDT 20SEP 08
w/SS vocal music, presumably religious music. Nice ID at 2300CDT as "We are
WNQM Nashville, TN" then SS call letters "doble oo-eh neh-coo-eh
may" into more SS vocals. I am smack dab in the middle of one of KAKC's
night pattern's nulls mixing with Austin, TX usually at equal level in the
null. WNQM dominating them tonite. Suspect they are still on 50kw day power? Also noted KAKC's IBOC off tonite.
9/6
WOW is Denver 950 putting in a huge signal on my westerly Phased
BOG System here
in Barrington IL tonite. On peaks which last for minutes at a time
this is
entertainment level and good music as well. I used to get them when
they
were sports, but honestly tonite is the strongest I ever had this station.
9/12
Close
to owning 1560 here..
9/18
Praise 910 WAVL seems way to strong here for night facilities
tonite.
Contempory
Christian format.
Reporting KCOL 600 as a flash tip since their night rig aims little
of their 500
watts my way, and my only catch of them previously was a local ment
just
prior to pattern switch once. I don't think these guys are on night
power,
but who knows as cx are pretty good to the west and they were atop
WMT at
2200 CDT ending talk with ID into Fox nx.
9/21
Armchair copy 1206 France for minutes on end, but some big fades.
Should be loggable by those needing their first TA .
Spanish audible at times on about 90% of the lower band channels
that have Spaniards...ie weak rare once like 972 and less common ones like 558
and 936.
9/24
New CFRN 1260 with Edmonton vs Calgary hockey in the mess at times
and local
ads. Two new northern MN GYers on 1340. 880 Edmonton News in well
before power switch atop CKLQ atop WCBS. CBR 1010 blasting in about best ever.
CKWX 1130 quite good with traffic and weather on the 1's, 890 BC w/C&W mx
under phased WLS lets me think I may have a shot at Alaska soon once it is dark.
740 CBX also in there u/Toronto // CBR. 1140 AB very nice signal etc.
Ususual stronger TA's coming in on antennas not intended for them ,
esp 1134.
9/25
I
added another new one from Edmonton on 930 with an AM930 The Light ID during rlg
pgmg with my semi-local WAUR phased out. Attempts at 910 from AB again resulted
in nil, as did attempts to get AK on 750 or 650. I stayed up an hour past
Anchorage sunset and with WSB phased, there was fine reception of the CK-750
Oldies pest from SK but not a trace of AK.
9/1
Here in Houston TX WWL 870 is clear with continuos coverage. Also
heard were WWWL 1350 simulcasting WWL. Other
stations I heard with Gustov coverage were WJBO 1150 from Baton Rouge & an
unid station on 1520 with coverage of Gustov.
9/6
Heard tonight on 1510 at around 1955 EDT, some rapid talk in
Spanish... since this was just past local sunset, it pretty much has to be a
station in the east somewhere, but I can't come up with a any good candidates.
Of course, they faded out just before TOH.
Any ideas who this could be?
9/12
KGOW Quite readable here too... nearly 100% copy once I got WQEW knocked
back a bit. I regret
the circumstances, and hope everyone comes through safely, but it's nice to get
a new one
9/10
Heard on eton e-10 (ten) barefoot. While scannng the dial about
8:40 PM EDT 9/09/08 noted a strong het blasting in over 1520 WWKB. Minutes later
about 8:45 PM the het broke out into audio . a male was heard speaking in a
foreign tongue but i could understand a few words. i
heard sadam hussian and something about iraq. i am assuming Saudi
araba or whoever is the strongest / easiest on 1521 .
----------------------
early last week i tore the tool shed / storage shed apart looking
for the kaito 1103 which did not show up. it must have been lost between
the hotel and backup apt during last winters renovation circus. A
replacement degen 1103 latest export version with english manual AND
english lettering has been ordered. also comes with a usa plug
adaptor. not ad for $70 NIB including shipping.....it would have been better if
i didn't loose the first radio.......
-----------------------
while hunting for the Kaito 1103 the LOST b-tech pre coupon days
DTV converter showed up !!!! i thought it was long lost but it was wrapped up
well and buried in the shed. i had ordered it before the coupon boxes came to
be. it has looked in so far cape cod @ over 75 miles !!!! i'm glad this turned
up makes the kaito loss easier to digest.
9/13
1560 KGOW belaire TX 5:00 AM EDT based on DX tip from other list hit 1560 . Bits and pieces of hurricane info heard during brief fadeups / battles with WQEW whic is strong here. Something heard about situation now is ... fade down fade up something about a fire and in between bits and pieces of hurricane related stuff. at about 5:10 1560 bacame too solid and 1570 started pounding splatter over. 9/13/08
Heard on Kaito 1103 Warwick R.I. QHT
950 WVTS Charlestown West
Virginia 4:58 AM EDT ad block followed by TOH ID followed by news. 9/16/08
Heard
in the 8pm (PDT) hour on Sony ICF-2010 barefoot:
920 UNID
- sounded like "Hoover sports radio network"
930
UNID - way u/KHJ
940
(image of XEPE-1700 here - D'Oh! must have been a mixing product with XEAZ-1270
I suppose)
980
KSVC-UT - North Sevier HS
1000
KCEO-CA - Halftime show for Torrey Pines HS
1010
UNID - one team name sounded like Longhorns?
1220
KHTS-CA - Valencia vs. Thousand Oaks
1230
KOTS-NM - Wildcats vs. (Beavers?)
1330
KGAK-NM - Usual coverage in Navajop, didn't catch team names this time
1380
KLPZ-AZ - Presumed as I always have them here w/Parker Broncs
1410/1440
KUHL and KTME-CA - Usual simulcast noted, didn't catch team names
1430
KFIG-CA Clovis West HS
1450
UNID - way under the mess as usual!
1520
KOKC-OK - Wrap-up show
9/13
KTRH 740 appears to be off as well - I am getting KRMG, but nothing
from KTRH.
9/29
[KFI 640] Heard - in Dallas 9-29 late PM, under WWLS and other
chatter - occasionally breaking through. Not
nearly as strong as I remember. KNX was much stronger in null of KRLD.
9/13
KFMB-760
San Diego (50 KW nights) alternating from open carrier to off then
back to open carrier with UNID SS in background. Currently (9:37 PM Pacific
time) open carrier.
9/23
670 CMQ Radio Rebelde Arroyo Arenas;
political talk // 5025 0027
740 CFZM Toronto ON; Nostalgia MX &
“AM 7-40” slogans 0035
860 CJBC Toronto ON; CBC FF
info/serious talk 0053
1030 WBZ Boston MA; WBZ weather &
traffic 2335
1150 CHGM Gaspe QC; FF pops // 610 0024
1470 CJVB Vancouver BC; CC commercials
& CC talk fluttering up to fair levels 0508
1580 CKDO Oshawa ON; Oldies &
“15-80 CKDO” ID 2322
1640 WTNI Biloxi MS; ESPN sports talk
& “Talk radio 16-40” slogan 0427
1650 WHKT Portsmouth VA; Radio Disney
pops 0008
1670 WVVM Dry Branch GA; SS discos
& “La viva 16-70” slogan 0432
1670.01WTDY Madison WI (tent); Talk
show. Late power down? Gone by 0015
At 0200 CDT 9/224 KBHB-810
is good under WGY with country music. Frequent
I.D.s
TOH I.D. said 25,000 watts. Have heard no spots, so may be testing.
1050 WTOP MD, Silver Spring. Playing short recordings telling
people to tune to 1500 to listen to Federal News Radio. Heard TOH ID at 1600
9/26 while driving on the Washington, DC Beltway.
850 KOA ; newsradio
Denver Colo. signal meter topped out on the KA-2100 9;50 cdt
That's
11 hours drive time from here ? wahoo!
9/27
First new log of the season while trying for KFI, heard WGST
Atlanta.
1540 ZNS Bahamas 2200 on Sangean DT-400W 09/29/08 blasting in loud and clear .... and called Kevin R to let him know.
The Whole Earth
In today's mail. 9/15
China BPM time station, 5 MHz, f/d card in 38 days for a report
with a CD of my reception, $1 and a postcard. v/s Jie Shuhong.
National Time Service Center
Chinese Academy of Sciences
P.O. Box 18
Lintong, Shaanxi, 710600 China
1-Sep-08 // 0359 UTC // 7440 khz. // Radio Ukraine International //
600 kw presumed // Lviv presumed // Music then male with "And with that,
Radio Ukraine International ends its English language transmission. Good bye and
tune in to our next transmission tomorrow."
** AFGHANISTAN [non]. Periodic reconfirmation of R. Solh via UK,
17700, playing exactly same recording day after day for at least a year, Sept 1
at 1346-1349, music ruined by skipping CD; fair signal
** CUBA. Altho it was on earlier when Gustav crossed, R. Rebelde,
5025, had only open carrier (unless it was Benin?) Sept 1 around 0600, and no
carrier at all at 1205 check, leaving China 5030 in the clear for once.
This led me to check all the RHC frequencies, and they were all
missing too at various chex until 1223! 6000, clearing Brandon DRM
5990-5995-6000; 6180, 9600, 11760, 12000, 15120, 15360. At 1223 when I hit
13760, heard a snippet of music and then it vanished, probably something else.
Proving my assertion that the DentroCuban Jamming Command has
priority over RHC for what power is available, jamming was still noted as
follows: 1212, 5980 Martí dominating, but J audible under; 1217, 7405 Martí,
nothing but J; 1218, 9805 Martí mixed with J; 1221 9955 WRMI, nothing but J;
1223, 13820 Martí over J.
Furthermore, the relay of CRI on 9570 was still running at 1218,
altho with dropouts; and of RNV on 11705 at 1222, also with modulation cutting
out every second. These are probably from a different transmitter site than
(most of?) the regular RHC frequencies.
RHC started coming back at 1248: 9600 open carrier and shortly
re-joining in progress Despertar con Cuba; 1239, 11760 and 12000 too ending La
Gaceta Cultural segment which no one really heard. 13760 back on with OC and
hum. 1251, 15120 on, good, no 15360 --- but the latter is always very much
weaker. 1253, 6180 on, and with hum and QRDRM, 6000. 1254, Rebelde 5025 back on
with 8:54 timecheck. 1300, 9600 off as usual, replaced from *1301 by 15370, DcC
JIP. 13680, which normally opens at 1300, was on when checked at 1343, huge
signal and much better modulation than // 13760
** JAPAN. We shouldn`t have to go to Japan to hear Western
classical music on SW, but are indebted to R. Nikkei for playing so much of it
in their late evenings, such as 1235 Sept 1 on 9595, Switched-on Bach, also on
6055 which of course fades down earlier. On this occasion, no CubaRM on 9600
** RUSSIA. Tnx to R. Martí kilowasting kilowatts by warming up as
much as a quarter hour before transmission, open carrier on 11930 muscled aside
the local noise level and easily audiblized something Asian on frequency, Sept 1
at 1345. Had that religious `feel` to it, soon confirmed by ``What a[n
imaginary] Friend We Have in Jesus`` theme. Per Aoki this is TWR via
Novosibirsk, 200 kW due south, in Tibetan Mondays only, all other days in Hindi.
I still find it hard to grasp Tibetans retaining any cultural identity if they
become Christians
** AUSTRALIA, HAWAII, JAPAN. Sept 2 at 1313 I ran across some
VOLMET = aviation weather broadcasts on SSB, first on 6679 including Narita, by
a YL robot, until 1314* with ``Tokyo, out``. Recheck at 1328, some VOLMET had
returned to frequency, but weaker and not sure if same station, as several
rotate each semihour on same frequency.
6676 nearby had more VOLMET, 1332 about Adelaide, Darwin, by
another YL voice, stronger than 6679. 1333 think I heard ``Sydney, VOLMET out.``
Then at 1334 back on 6679 there was a male voice who did not sound
like a robot --- if so, much better done than the others; included Honolulu and
at 1335 ``All stations, this is Honolulu Radio.``
The log at http://www.shortwavemonitor.com/05-10.htm
is not too helpful,
since it does not include Tokyo or Honolulu on 6679, just Auckland
and Hong Kong; but does have Sydney on 6676 as VJN385, along with Bangkok and
Singapore. That site tho lengthy is not meant to be a comprehensive reference,
but rather depends on what someone actually logged in Jan-Feb-March of this
year. I have not tried to hunt up complete VOLMET schedules
** CHINA [and non]. Firedrake Sept 3 at 1343 on 13710, a new
frequency. I suspect it responds to another unpredictable jump by a tiny Sound
of Hope transmitter in Taiwan, formerly on 13750, where there was no FD now.
Unfortunately, 13710 is already occupied by AIR GOS via Bangalore in English to
SE Asia, and even by CRI via Kashi in French to Europe, as listed by Aoki which
as of this date has not yet inserted SOH/FD on 13710*, but who knows, it may be
gone by tomorrow
** CUBA. Twenty-three days after we first discovered RHC`s new 19
mb frequencies in the mornings, 15360 and 15120, Sept 3 at 1400, live announcer,
the woman, this time, is still in the dark and keeps announcing the abandoned
ones, 9550 and 11805 instead, in the regular frequency listing which varies a
minute or two around this hour, and we know it`s live because an accurate UT -4
timecheck immediately follows. And this is despite the fact that Arnie confirmed
the new frequencies just one day later, Aug 12 on DXers Unlimited.
Scenario: there are hidden layers of bureaucracy at RHC, so Arnie
or some other tech in the know can`t just tell the announcers to change the
script immediately. It has to be approved by this guy and that gal, including
the censors, who must vet every word ultimately read on the air, and the
announcers are not allowed to deviate, even if they know something is
inaccurate. Or possibly they just don`t give a damn
** IRAN [and non]. Iran Qur`an, in Arabic of course, Sept 3 at 1350
on 15150, fair signal but with intermittent SSB QRM on hi side, 15152 or 15153,
probably poachers or narcotraffickers in Spanish who encroach onto the broadcast
bands with impunity
** JAPAN [non]. NHKWNRJ, 11705 via Sackville, Sept 3 at 1416 after
a 2-minute music break, announced a new weekly feature on Wednesdays this month,
answering questions from listeners if sent to What`s Up, Japan? No pre-echo from
Yamata this date, a welcome respite
** KOREA NORTH [non]. Assertive Korean talk, Sept 2 at 1319 on
6518. Is PWBR `2008` any help? Of course not; it sure isn`t Perú! Fortunately
we know that this is V. of People, clandestine from S to N, and // 6600, the
latter jammed. 6518 does appear for this in WRTH 2008
** MEXICO. XEXQ, R. Universidad de San Luís Potosí, 6045, is
appearing more reliably now: Sept 2 at 1322 classical music audible with no
strain, but lo het from Asian 6045.0 station; also Sept 3 around 1310. It should
be better to monitor XEXQ in the 1200 UT hour before Vladivostok comes on
** SWEDEN [non]. Despite the impression given by advance notice on
website, the R. Sweden 70th anniversary special show in English did air on the
Sackville relay, 15240, Sept 3 at 1430. I had missed the original direct
broadcast at 1230. An enjoyable show which one should hear ondemand if not
onshortwave.
At 1449 George Wood briefly mentioned how Sweden Calling DXers was
such a pioneer in using the internet, but failed to mention how he deliberately
downgraded it from a SW DX news source to Mediascan with news of internet, and
primarily satellites, and then let it peter out to almost nothing, the last item
posted at
http://www.sr.se/cgi-bin/International/nyhetssidor/index.asp?nyheter=1&ProgramID=2408
dated 2008-06-27. Of course, running an active media blog would
largely duplicate RNW`s Media Network, among others.
At 1500, 15240 continued in Swedish, and sounded like it was also
the anniversary show, or part of it. BTW, on this occasion before 1500 there was
more adjacent QRM than usual, 15235 being SMG Vatican in Hindi/Tamil, and 15245
being BBC Woofferton in Russian
** U S A. WRNO, 7505, New Orleans, was still missing around 0355
check UT September 3. Hmmm, I wonder if Hannah will ever hit Walterboro?
** U S A [non]. Checking all the alleged frequencies for VOA
special live coverage of the Republic Con, as in DXLD 8-095, UT Sept 3 around
0115, the only one I could hear, I think, was 9780, as it was poor but sounded
like the same speaker at the moment on live TV coverage, but not synchronized.
This was supposed to be Sri Lanka, not starting until 0200. Axually 9780 was
already on the regular schedule at 01-02 only, so 02-03 is just a temporary
extension
** AUSTRALIA. RA with throw-away feature Perspective, Thu Sept 4 at
1355 on 6020 and 9580. It only lasted 3.5 minutes this time, but nevertheless,
both frequencies dumped out of it at 1358, 6020 going immediately to unnecessary
IS before closing in time for Shiokaze at 1400, inaudible here; and 9580 just
cutting rudely off air, forcing us to retune to inferior 9590 for the rest of
the show. The remaining sesquiminute before 1400 news was filled by the RA news
sounder already and promos.
Perspective is so dispensable that it isn`t even shown for 1355 at http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/programguide/141.htm
but just M-F 0955 and 1654 and Sat 2105, none of them convenient
times for SWLs in North America. Fortunately, via its website http://www.abc.net.au/rn/perspective/
one may read transcripts or even subscribe. The one I heard was
actually for Sept 3, ``Staying good while playing God - looking after animal
welfare when applying biotechnology`` and Roger Broadbent said it was the first
of a series
** CUBA. RHC 6180 still missing, Sept 4 at 0110. This is supposed
to be in Spanish to CAm, ex-6140, which swapped with it for English. Have not
checked the entire evening to learn if 6180 ever appears. If not, where did this
transmitter go? Meanwhile, English on 6000 and 6140 still suffer from low
modulation and hum, 6000 being worse. Those searching for a frequency associated
with my last report around 1400: I happened to be listening on 13680
** INTERNATIONAL. This is not a log per se, but a follow-up to my
previous report of VOLMET from AUSTRALIA, HAWAII, JAPAN. Tnx to Jari Savolainen
who sent link to VOLMET info for Asia and Pacific, http://www.icao.or.th/meetings/2008/opmet_tf6/wp12.pdf
The schedule can be summarised as follows, in minutes past each
hour; we wonder if all frequencies are always used at once, or whether the
highest are day-only, the lowest night-only, which is SOP. The document also
shows which airports are covered in each 5-minute segment; that could also help
to ID source. Notice how several frequencies are 3 kHz apart. These aren`t often
reported even by utility DXers; they could be considered SWBC. Presumably
everything is in [robotic] English, the ICAO language, even tho `VOLMET` is
derived from the French:
PACIFIC: 2863, 6679, 8828, 13282
Tokyo
10-15, 40-45
Hong Kong 15-20,
45-50
Auckland 20-25,
50-55
However, a separate entry further down the list conflicts with
above!
One would have expected Honolulu to fill in the 55-10 and 25-40
gaps if really on the same frequencies. And in fact my log on 6679 had Honolu2
ID at :35 past!
PACIFIC: 2863, 6679, 8828, 13282
Honolulu 10-25,
40-55 [sic]
ASIA: 3458, 5673, 8849, 13285
Guangzhou 00-15,
30-45
Beijing 15-30,
45-60
EUROPE/ASIA: 3461, 4663, 5676, 10090, 13279
Tashkent 05-10,
35-40
Novosibirsk 10-15, 40-45
Khabarovsk 15-20,
45-50
Moskva
25-30, 55-60
Kyiv [blank, but presumably if active would fill one gap or the
other:
00-05, 30-35
20-25, 50-55]
ASIA: 2965, 6676, 11387
Sydney
00-05, 30-35
Kolkata 05-10,
35-40
Bangkok 10-15,
40-45
Karachi 15-20,
45-50
Singapore 20-25,
50-55
Mumbai
25-30, 55-60
Then Liz Cameron sends a much more comprehensive VOLMET schedule,
tnx to Bill Hepburn`s site http://www.dxinfocentre.com/volmet.htm
which confirms my suspicions about Honolulu; includes callsigns for most, and
many more exotic ones like Damascus. One could easily specialize in DXing and
even QSLing these VOLMETs, or at least add some countries otherwise difficult or
impossible on regular SWBC, such as IRELAND, GIBRALTAR, URUGUAY
** SWEDEN. Andy Sennitt corrects my previous comments about the
demise of Sweden Calling DXers: don`t blame George Wood, but the management. Any
program at all like that could continue only if he dumped SW DX news for
satellite stuff, as gh paraphrases it, so MediaScan was born. My apologies in
that case. Meanwhile, it was announced on Thursday`s RS show, which had a
feature on Aland, that the anniversary special would repeat on Sunday Sept 7
** U S A. WBCQ, 5110 was still on the air with rock music at 0106
UT Sept 4, presumably a postlude to Area 51, scheduled 2300-0100. Not // 7415
which at 0113 was airing a preacher sounding suspiciously like Brother Scare.
Remember, WORLD OF RADIO is to appear on 5110 Fridays at 2300, then
INTERNATIONAL RADIO REPORT
** U S A. On 1060, UT Sept 4 at 0058, heard weather from the Radio
Colorado Network, then a quick string of IDs including KKKK Colorado Springs,
but that doesn`t apply to 1060, and then mentioned another chain, Rocky Mountain
Radio Network. Strangely enough, neither net is mentioned in the introduxion to
the year-old 2007 NRC AM Log, altho the former is in the entry for 1060 which is
really KRCN Longmont, and KKKK is on 1580
** CANADA [and non]. Heard an unfamiliar het as I tuned across 49m,
Sept 4 at 2315, on 6070. Something in English, yes IDing in passing as Newstalk
10-10, CFRB, so the long-delayed revival of CFRX has finally happened! But it`s
off-frequency, about 6069.8. This could be a devious way of encouraging the
competition, such as CVC, to evacuate, as a het from this low-power station is
more annoying than being on exactly the correct frequency. CVC from Chile is
currently scheduled 23-13 UT, which covers almost all the darkness hours in
North America. And then there`s ELWA Liberia until 2300 or so. On second
thought, that`s unlikely; but CFRX previously was not off-frequency like this
CFRX is also shooting itself in the foot, since the het it causes
also makes it very unpleasant for its own would-be listeners in North America,
where 100 kW from Chile easily trumps or at least matches 1 kW from Toronto,
all-night. A little help: CVC in B-season shrinx to 00-12 UT. At least CFRX
should be OK in daytime for areas close enough to overcome absorption.
Adjacently: Not much in Western Hemisphere on 6065, with WYFR no
longer using it; DW is 24 hours via several rotating sites around Europe on
6075, and then there`s RCI with a big 250 kW on 6075 at 0205-0305 in Spanish,
268 degrees, but that`s for A-season only.
Further chex of the reactivated CFRX 6069.8: By Sept 5 at 0302 it
was just a het against CVC, and with expected splash from RCI 6075. At 0620
recheck, could only hear CVC and no het, so not sure if CFRX was still on;
however at this hour propagation from the east was very poor, with Sackville
quite weak on 6045 in Korea relay. WWCR also weak on 5070. Even Greenville 6180
was weak, while Habana 6140 was still very strong, as well as XEPPM: see MEXICO.
Checking CFRX again at 1248, it was poor with het still audible, presumably the
remnants of CVC which was about to sign off, anyway.
And after 1300 the het gone and CFRX actually improved a bit by
1310 when resuming talk show after news and weather. Now the obstacle is local
line noise level. Still audible but not listenable at 1355 when I turned on the
computer and TV set. At 1735 recheck, could not even get a carrier on the
portable in the yard, but with local noise sources turned off might be able to
hear it on the big rig and antenna at midday, to be determined.
But could not really get into it back at 1310, because of
interruptions every few minutes for more weather, traffic reports, commercials,
promos, phone-in numbers, all with phony enthusiasm. But that`s commercial radio
for you in North America. I still welcome the revival of this relic, as there is
no other Canadian or US SW station with such a format. O sure, there are talk
shows on several US stations, but they all have a religious or fringe political
agenda.
Does CFRB have any shows on particular topics worth outseeking? See
http://www.cfrb.com/shows where there are
lots of different show titles, personality-driven, so if you don`t know the
hosts, the names are meaningless.
There are quite a few specialty shows on weekends, tho, which is
SOP for talk format stations, for example, converted to UT:
Sat 12-13 home
improvement
Sat 16-17 movies
Sat 19-20 cars
Sat 22-2230 movies
Sun 14-15 trivia
Sun 18-1830 CFRB Presents documentaries by college students
Mon 02-03 comedy
The need I advocated to change frequency and/or increase power with
the comeback was pooh-poohed by CFRX`s QSL manager. BTW, altho I did not see his
report until later, Steve Lare in MI was first to report CFRX back, earlier Sept
4 at 2050.
Just how long had CFRX been off? Altho it had been intermittent for
a while before then, about two years, per this item from September, 2006 in DXLD
6-144:
``CANADA. Not certain if anyone else has mentioned this or not but
yesterday I had checked 6070 for CFRX and they were not there.
Checked
today as well and not there again. Normally they are S9+ here
through
the day
CFRB/CFRX QSL signer Steve Canney told me on September 20th that
CFRX
was off the air then. The chief engineer was looking for the
problem,
but hadn`t found it. So it appears that the repairs were either too
extensive or he ran out of time and it must wait for another visit
to
the transmitter site.
BTW, new QSL card has just been printed and is now in use for CFRX
and
CFRB reception reports (Harold Sellers, Ont., Sept 24, 2006, ODXA
via DXLD)``
QSL unneeded as I have one showing the Toronto skyline from Nov 7,
1957, or rather ``Toronto`s downtown and harbour as seen from the bay``, just
added to my gallery at http://www.worldofradio.com/QSL.html
Hey, where`s the CN tower?? Not constructed until l973-1976, says
Wikipedia
** MAURITANIA. 4845 inaudible at 0310 check Sept 5, so apparently
not running all-night for Ramadan; usual ute noises were there. At 0627, ORTM
was poorly audible with ute
** MEXICO. Trying to figure out the true schedule of XEPPM, R.
Educación, 6185: Recently had been inaudible after 0600 and presumed off, but
Sept 5 at 0625 VG signal with contemporary classical music, and remarkably,
hardly any signal from VOA Greenville 6180 to bother it. No sign of Brasil on
6180 or 6185 or 6188 either, but when on, that could be a problem. 0628 gave
Spanish timecheck more than a minute fast, ID for MW 1060, and into discussion
of jazz.
The SW program schedule as of June/08 is at http://www.radioeducacion.edu.mx/ONDA.pdf
as mentioned by Harry Helms, and covers only 18-24 local time =
23-05 UT. But this does not necessarily mean 6185 is only on the air during
those hours; those could be only when SW programming is separate from MW.
BTW, it includes ``Sintonía Libre``, which I think is some sort of
DX program, UT Wed/Fri/Sun 0200-0230, repeated Mon 0415-0445 [something to
listen to now that WOR is gone from that hour on WBCQ]. Also a show title in
English! On the Road, Tue/Thu/Sat 0015-0045. The discussion I heard at 0630 UT
Friday must have been ``Datos Para Una Historia``, a repeat scheduled on MW, UT
Fridays only 0630-0700, the rest of the block 0503-0957 daily, bookended by
himnos nacionales, being unspecified music. Such a pity they did away with
detailed minute-by-minute advance playlists.
And I think I have the answer to Harry`s unID on 6185 in DXLD
8-094, something ending in -dad, which he heard Thursday August 21 at 1002:
shown on the XEEP MW schedule for Wed & Thu at 10-12 UT is ``Del Campo y de
la Ciudad``, all other days being unspecified music during this block, except
Mondays 1100-1115, Voces de Antiguas Raíces. However if the original SW
schedule is in effect, that goes off at 1100. And the evening MW schedule is
certainly different from the SW one. We still suspect the SW transmission is
somewhat irregular, especially after 0500.
As for other Mexican SW. During these unusual conditions Sept 5,
with signals from the east so attenuated, RCI relay of KBSWR in Spanish on 6045
was weak enough to uncover a fast SAH at 0620, which I suspect came from XEXQ
running all night as I have heard it on occasion, perpetually slightly off
frequency. 6010 XEOI was also coming in well as usual, but strength no
comparison to 6185
** U S A. WBOH still has a bit of Russian, as I ran across it again
Sept 5 at 0635 on 5920, very poor signal along with Greenville 6180
** BOLIVIA. R. Santa Cruz continues to be the easiest Bolivian,
6134.8 or so making het pitch with something much weaker on 6135.0 very close to
what CFRX makes with CVC, as I was checking 6070 also at 2350 Sept 5. At 2357,
6134.8 was mentioning Santa Cruz, Bolivia, programa del Instituto Radiofónico Fé
y Alegría. But marred by a bonker around the same frequency. At least R. República
is currently away on 31m
** CANADA. CFRX check, Sept 5 at 2350, big het between it on 6069.8
and CVC Chile on 6070.0, the two at about equal level. At first CVC was
dominating, but at 0000, TC, ID and CFRB News was atop for the moment. A deep
notch would help but how many SWLs have that? Intolerable clash caused by people
who don`t understand how to do shortwave. Since CFRX is incapable of moving even
200 Hz, so far, they (we?) should try to persuade CVC to move, as they certainly
have the flexibility to do so. If they want to move as little as possible, it
looks like the easy way out would be for CVC to shift to 6065, which is not used
by anything in the Western Hemisphere all night, but their own Zambian outlet
starts at 0600, so Chile could use it at least until then, and CFRX could be
clear in the local evenings
** CUBA. Tho it had been missing the last few nites, RHC 6180 was
back Sept 5-6, with open carrier from tune-in 2350, and IS, sign-on 2358. The
frequencies announced at 0000, when I was listening to 6060, were: 13760, 11760,
11680, 9550, 9600, 5965, 6000, 6060, 6140 and 6180, in that strange Moscow-style
order. Yes, 6140 also on for one hour in Spanish before it goes into English
** MEXICO [and non]. Checking XEPPM, 6185, Sept 5 at 2350, there
was a rumbling SAH with R. Nacional Amazônia, BRAZIL, which was on top. Later
on Sept 6 around 0255, non-Spanish, non-Portuguese was on top, presumably
Vatican. So R. Educación really needs to stay on all night when the frequency
is clearer
** U S A. WBOH, 5920, I noticed was already in Spanish at 0004
check UT Sat Sept 6, as their own schedule has conflicting info about the
Spanish timings
** AUSTRALIA. RA, 9785, G signal in Indonesian, 2230 UT Sat Sept 6
starting ``English from Australia`` lessons based on lyrix of John Denver songs;
this is no Kang Guru show originating in Australia and carried on RRI stations,
also teaching English. Axually more English than Indonesian heard past 2250,
with occasional QRDRM from Sackville 9795-9800-9805. Site is Darwin at 290
degrees, almost due west, making me wonder if it`s long-path, which would seem
unusual, while RNW Indo via Madagascar longpath around same time on other
frequencies is common.
At 2313 found another RA // Indo frequency, 15230, which by then
was better than 9785 and not synchronized with it. 15230 is Shepparton at 30
degrees, surely short-path, but why is it aimed eastward of any part of
Indonesia? Because the 2300 hour just like the 2200 hour on 15230 is supposed to
be in English to Oceania, per Aoki and EiBi; mistake, or recent change? (Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CANADA. CFRX, still on 6069.85 or so, Sept 6 at 2258 in the
clear, no het, but as soon as news started at 2300, a slight het appeared, no
doubt from CVC Chile as scheduled. It should only get worse as the evening
progresses, and CVC builds up while CFRX loses out. The news was barely underway
at 2301 when it was interrupted for a traffic report about the 401. Such
irrelevancies could get old quick for CFRB`s now expanded continental audience
** CUBA [and non]. Ear-splitting whine is back, centered on 5800,
extending up to 50 kHz either side! With cut numbers in middle, Sept 6 around
0615. The Cuban spy number service certainly has no qualms about being noticed,
presumably since its code is believed to be unbreakable. Just another way Cuba
messes up the spectrum with abandon.
And the DentroCuban Jamming Command is still blasting its noise at
WRMI 9955 while WORLD OF RADIO is on, in English, 2025 UT check Saturday Sept 6,
so we were totally inaudible here. Same before and after 2300. It is beginning
to seem that Arnie`s jamming pals have decided just to turn it on and leave it,
rather than adjust jamming times only to block Cuban exile programs in Spanish,
despite hours for those having been drastically reduced, as there is more
English, religion, Saturdays at 2300 on the WRMI schedule.
Meanwhile, RHC itself was not jammed at all! On 11750, English
`news` in progress at 2308, in yet another runover from scheduled 2300 closing
of that frequency in other languages. 11750 was axually better than the only
frequency supposed to be in English then, 9550, which had DWL ACI from 9545. But
those engrossed in learning what is really going on in the world were abruptly
abandoned when 11750 went off at 2309* This is getting to be more the rule than
the exception
** HONDURAS. HRMI back on the air in usual sporadic fashion, 3340,
with a good signal at a time when propagation was pitiful on higher bands, SF =
65, Sept 6 around 0610 with OM preacher in English plus consecutive translation
into Spanish by YL. As for what either of them was saying, I have no idea, as my
ears glaze over whenever I am assaulted by such delusional characters so
absolutely certain they have The Truth. If anything, his interpreter was even
more so in her pronouncements
** MEXICO. XEPPM, 6185, apparently on with carrier at least 5
minutes before 2300 Sept 6, as I was hearing a lo het with presumed RNA Brasil.
At 2301 recheck, XEPPM well on top with Mexican anthem, 2301 sign-on in Spanish,
and 2302 sign-on in English, plus program summary, but most or all of them are
going to be in Spanish. Do they assume all listeners are bilingual? Each also
gave e-mail of ondacorta @ radioeducacion.edu.mx and 2303 back into Spanish
programming, a repeat from something on Friday giving Sept 5 date
** VENEZUELA [non]. RNV, 15250 via Cuba, Sat Sept 6 at 2314 in
English, YL with tedious enumeration of constitutional articles concerning
corruption, apparently trying to dismiss such charges against Chávez in the
1990s, made only worse by her didactic and heavy accent. A SAH of about 3 Hz was
detectable during fades and bits of modulation from something else. Only
possibility in Aoki and EiBi is CVC in Indonesian via Darwin, 290 degrees, 250
kW, exactly same parameters as RA being heard at same time on 9785; see
AUSTRALIA
** CUBA. As Hurricane Ike traverses the island, RHC is of course
required listening for news of its impact. Sept 8 at 1303 on 12000 it was
mentioned that Ike would be subject of Mesa Redonda, Monday evening, this time
starting at 2200 instead of 2230, on 6000 and 9820. Despertar con Cuba was
airing reports from various cities in central and eastern Cuba about coping with
Ike (well-pronounced as in English, despite temptations to Spanishize it),
including large evacuations from low-lying areas subject to flooding.
Without missing a beat, however, RHC goes from Ike news to Cinco
Presos stuff, which is required to be mentioned at least every 5 minutes. It
seems the tenth anniversary of their incarceration is imminent, so expect even
more of that, if humanly possible, hurricanes or no hurricanes.
At 1308, strong 15370 was splashing over weak 15360, a risk you
take by putting two of your own transmitters only 10 kHz apart. Perhaps in SAm
the situation is reversed.
How are the jammers doing? Still obliterating WRMI 9955 at 1347
check; mixing with Martí on 13820, and a bit earlier also dominating 7405. Both
the DJCJ and RHC appear unhindered so far, but that could change as Ike goes
closest to Habana. However, the SW jammer sites are probably not all
concentrated near Habana like the RHC sites. Where are they, exactly, Arnie?
Since you assert Cuba is perfectly justified in jamming unfriendly broadcasts,
even citing ITU regulations against cross-border broadcasting, why aren`t these
in the ITU database?
** IRELAND [non]. As I tuned across KJES, 11715, Sunday Sept 7 at
1312, there was unmistakable QRDRM centered on same frequency. Both signals
weak, but that means DRM was a considerable problem for those of us hankering
for a KJES-fix, preacher talking in English, then off-key singing with guitar
accompaniment. Checked the online DRM skeds, and nothing anywhere near 11715 at
any time! O yes, this is the day Irish hurling goes hi-tech with special
one-day-only DRM transmission via Woofferton UK at 102 degrees on
11710-11715-11720. A considerable oversight by the DRM schedule maintainer.
After 1500 I also checked the analog frequencies via Meyerton, South Africa,
11695 and 11960, but heard nothing. So a `successful` DRM transmission at the
expense of poor KJES. Made me want to hurl
** JAPAN. At the end of NHKWNRJ news, 1410 Sept 8 on 11705 via
Canada, I was able to copy the name of their deep-voiced news announcer, I hope
correctly: Hirokazu Sanamaki. He is apparently too modest for it to appear on
the website
** SPAIN [and non]. REE`s Clásicos Populares show, originally from
RNE R3, Mon-Tue-Wed 1305-1400, seems to be gone again, for Sept 8 at 1330, 1350
chex they were apparently reading something from Cervantes, with only some
incidental music in background, on 17595 and via Costa Rica 15170. The latter
signed off at 1400, and before 1401* I could hear it mixing with something else,
which per EiBi must be R. Liberty via Rampisham in Turkmen, just starting
** U S A. After a few weeks, the Sunday 2030 UT time of WORLD OF
RADIO on WRMI, 9955, is gone again; checking webcast Sept 7 heard exile program
instead, which Jeff White says is Foro Revolucionario Democrático Cubano which
had to be rescheduled since it wanted to expand from half an hour to half a
sesquihour. Jammed, anyway
** U S A. SOS! Sunday Sept 7 at 1320-1330, came across reading of
Song of Solomon chapter 5 on WYFR 25m, hot stuff about breasts and such, but all
in the usual ponderous style of all other Bible readings. Just once, I would
like to hear this read with a bit of leer. O yeah, it`s allegorical. I was so
excited that I failed to notice whether it was 11830 or 11865, both on the air
in English to WNAm with separate programming. Checked 24 hours later: 11865 the
one with Bible readings, but no SOS this time
** CUBA [and non]. With H. Ike crossing western Cuba Sept 9, time
for another check of SW transmitters. First at 0524, RHC English inaudible on
11760, 9550, but really poor propagation may be the reason; OK on 6140, 6000,
and 6060, in descending order of strength, obsessed with the Cinco Presos and
giving their first names (do they rotate the order, just to be fair?).
Radio Martí, 7405 without jamming at 0524 during music show.
Propagation not the cause here as WYFR was OK on 7730, 7520. RM 6030 also in the
clear at 0525 with no jamming audible!
Radio Rebelde, 5025: normal at 0540, mentioned that Rebelde on 1180
was the only frequency on the air for central Cuba [just happens to try to block
R. Martí].
Next check in the 1230-1400+ UT period. News from somewhere at 1300
said Ike was about to hit the mainland for the second time at Pinar del Río.
RHC operations were normal, except for 6000 missing.
Jammers were OFF, allowing R. Martí to be in the clear, and WRMI.
Relays of China and Venezuela were also OFF. The details:
Radio Rebelde: At 1230, 5025 was still on as usual, with Ike
coverage more focused than RHC which was wandering away to other topix. 1335
still audible talking about massive evax.
RHC: at 1230, the first frequency I checked, 6000 was absent;
normally runs until 1400. Could be that its antenna, larger than the higher
frequencies, was more subject to wind damage.
Following RHC channels were confirmed on with normal operations: at
1239, 6180; at 1245, 9600, with programming about cultural relations with
Mexico`s regiomontana region (Nuevo León). 1249, 12000; 1251, 11760; 1256,
15360 and 15120; 1302, 15370, 13680. RHC news leads with Raúl telephoning
support to the head of the Party in hard-hit Holguín, ho hum. How about some
real news, rather than party leaders` doings?
Jammers: no sign of them on R. Martí frequencies, loud and clear
for a change: 1232 on 7405, talking about the totally disastrous situation in
Cuba; 1235 on 9805; 1255 on 13820, but RM still weak. 1303 on 11845 very good.
1336, still good on 7405. Also no jamming on WRMI with R. Cuba Libre, 9955, at
1248, but WRMI quite weak.
CRI relays: at 1246, 9570 missing; at 1402 past 1600, 13740
missing.
RNV relay: at 1254, 11705 missing.
The missing transmissions could be due to: 1) voluntary closedown
to minimize damage, perhaps lowering antennas in advance if possible; 2) power
outages but only in some areas; 3) real hurricane damage to antennas and/or
other equipment at sites; 4) studio-transmitter link outages for any of same
reasons; 5) in the case of jammers, relenting to allow useful info from outside
in --- naah, of course not
** GUIANA FRENCH. DRM on 15310-15315-15320, Sept 9 at 1259 and
continuing past 1301, steady S9+18 and likely from one of the W. Hemisphere
sites, Bonaire which has used frequency before at other times, or HCJB? No,
Guiana French reactivated as in this case the DRM DX schedule has it for three
days only:
1200-1400 09/08-09/10 15315 292 Mexico 150 TDF GUF various Montsinéry
And details here: http://www.drmrx.org/forum/showthread.php?t=2004
also showing 11825, 17875 and 21620 at other times of day.
But why? Not stated. Some meeting must be going on in Mexico, with
this as a demo. In fact, it is La Séptima Bienal Internacional de Radio, at the
Centro Nacional de las Artes, 8-12 September, info about which Magdiel Cruz Rodríguez
has sent us, including DRM and IBOC demonstrations. More monitoring reports of
these are at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/drmna/messages
** INDONESIA. Qur`an on 4790, Sept 9 at 1233, so must be RRI Fak2,
making it thru again, but none of the other 60m Indos audible
** ASIA. Didn`t have time to log details, but tnx to lower local
line noise level, and not too much T-storm activity nearby, a scan of 60m Sept
10 at 1225 found weak signals audible from the usual suspects in North Korea,
China, and Indonesia: 4450, 4460, 4750, 4790, 4830, 4870, 4900, 4920, 5030, 5050
** AUSTRALIA. Sept 10 at 1235 I was hearing lengthy marine weather
forecasts extending a few days futurely, on 6507-SSB. Hard to catch geographical
details, except for St. Helen`s Point, which a Google search immediately pins on
Tasmania. Had SSB 2-way QRM on the high side. Klingenfuss 2002 SW Guide shows
five Strines on 6507: VID Darwin, VIM Melbourne, VIP Perth, VIS Sydney, VIT
Townsville. I suppose by proximity VIM is most likely. Perhaps they are on a
rotating schedule
** CANADA. On the sixth day after reactivation, CFRX frequency
adjusted much closer to 6070.0 after starting out around 6069.85v. Sept 10 at
1218 it had a subaudible heterodyne of approximately 6 Hz against presumed
remnants of CVC Chile. CFRX continued to weaken, but carrier without the SAH
still detectable at 1421, 1507
** CANADA. CKZU, 6160, holding up later as we get into autumn, Sept
10 at 1413 with Vancouver traffic report; Spanish 2-way SSB QRM from 6157
** CUBA [and non]. As expected, the jamming break tnx to Ike did
not last long, but seems not to have ramped up to full force yet again.
The morning of Sept 9 as in my last report, jamming was missing on
Martí and WRMI frequencies. I did not have time for a thoro check in the
afternoon, but a quick check at 2206 found lite jamming back on 11930. Also,
Venezuela relay missing in the morning, was back at 1955 on 15290.
UT Sept 10 at 0530, RM was over jamming on 6030 and 7405. RHC was
still missing from 6000, and English on 6060 had better modulation but weaker
signal than // 6140.
Next survey started at 1212: 6000 was finally back on, in Spanish
at this hour, but with QRDRM from Australia 5990-5995-6000 and from the Asian
het on 6003. Other RHC frequencies were on as usual too.
At 1228, just before closing 5980, RM was VG and no jamming
audible, nor any once RM was gone; at 1241, 7405 was mixed with jamming, and at
1245 RM was over the jamming. At 1255, RM 13820 VG with no jamming audible, but
may have been overriding it, as RHC 13760 was quite weak.
CRI relay on 9570, missing the day before, was back at 1246 check.
As was RNV on 11705 at 1249, but with low modulation and hum.
WRMI, 9955, was jammed again at 1247, both from pulses at the rate
of about 132 per minute, and weaker continuous bubbling. However, at 1421
recheck, the jamming was gone leaving a weak signal in English, presumably the
usual R. Prague program from the day before
** GUATEMALA. R. Verdad, 4052.5, always reliable, checked Sept 10
at 0548 and started to hear an ID with station address by YL in what sounded
like Swedish! But could have been another Scandinavian language; then into hymn
with local piano accompaniment. The final broadcast hour is normally in English,
or make that non-Spanish
** MEXICO. XEPPM, R. Educación, made another of its rare daytime
appearances on 6185, Sept 10 at 1411 tune-in. I had not noticed it a couple
hours earlier when I was scanning the band and Habana was still on 6180, so I
think XEPPM must have deliberately turned the transmitter back on rather than
forgetting to turn it off at 1100*
This was apparently prompted by the `special programming` for the
Bienal, as explained in DXLD 8-100, without any specific information about when
it would be on the air. The Bienal was mentioned, but then the hour was mostly
about a Festival Cervantino in Guanajuato, and lots more discussion of Cervantes
and Don Quixote. Apparently some celebration about them is going on now, as REE
has also been reading and discussing this in the 1300 hour since Sept 8; see
SPAIN.
XEPPM signal was quite good at the start, but faded down a bit in
the following hour. At 1444 again mentioned Séptima Bienal, discussed radio via
Internet. The remote special wrapped up at 1500 with a return to the cabina, ID
for XEEP MW 1060 only. By then 6185 was the strongest signal on 49m, and almost
the only one, besides WBOH 5920.
My local line noise level has relented, probably only temporarily,
so I checked for other carriers, finding 6070 CFRX; and 6045, must be XEXQ at
the late hour of 1508, along with bits of audio
** SPAIN. REE, 17595, Sept 10 at 1306 again starting special series
about Cervantes instead of Clásicos Populares. Mentioned ``caballero`` literary
tradition in other European countries, then into Don Quixote. XEPPM also into
Cervantism special: see MEXICO
** SUDAN [non]. Southern Sudan Interactive Radio Instruction, Sept
10 at 1259 on 15390 was vamping with music, and shortly before 1300 English ID
as starting part 2 of English lesson; poor with fades. Then identified as
Program 98, for beginners.
At 1303 found same kind of thing with frequent doorbell cues, on
15760, but NOT //. These are both M/W/F only at 1300-1330 via South Africa, at 7
and 5 degrees respectively
** CANADA. CHU plans to move from 7335 to 7850 with an upgrade
``this summer`` but only one sesquiweek is left to meet that goal. Still on 7335
as usual at 2142 check Sept 10
** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. R. Africa, 15190 remains active most of the
time; Sept 10 at 2122, large S9+20 signal but North American preacher
undermodulated. Recheck at 2245, still audible with distorted audio under
stronger WYFR in Portuguese which starts at 2200. Christians vs Christians!
** IBERIA. Both REE in Spanish on 15110 and RDPI in Portuguese on
15295 were sending overblown coverage of some silly ballgame, Sept 10 at 2123. I
wonder if it was the same game, but don`t really care
** U S A. WRNO back on the air UT Sept 10, having last been heard
on UT August 30 just before a hurricane hit. They were supposed to resume at
0100-0400 UT the transmission on 7505, but no sign of them by 0115 UT Sept 10.
They were on, however at 0205 recheck; but off early too at 0355 check.
Bruce Barker got a tip from WRNO by e-mail that they were about to
return, which also said they had been down for power loss, not because of any
damage to antenna or tower. However, missing August 31 was well before there
should have been any power loss.
Next night, UT Sept 11, at 0059 carrier was on and started promptly
at 0100. First news item was from Global Witness, about genocide in the DR
Congo. Then items about Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, Mr. Kim Jung-Il, Russia vs EU
over Georgia, Lebanon --- ``brought to you by Jonathan Peter, as reported by the
BBC``.
Went on to say that WRNO Worldwide was not affected by Gustav, now
praying against another hurricane planning to hit Houston/Galveston, they hope,
instead of New Orleans. And then some music which drove me away immediately. I
don`t listen much, but the live DJs seem to act as if they are in New Orleans
instead of Fort Worth. Isn`t NOLA merely the transmitter site now?
** U S A. I was getting a bit concerned Wednesday Sept 10 at 2100,
when WORLD OF RADIO 1425 did not start on WBCQ 15420-CUSB, but instead the New
Mexico preacher went right on babbling. Finally WOR started late at 2110 and ran
until conclusion at 2138:40, during which the signal faded down somewhat. Serves
as another reminder that if you don`t hear WOR at scheduled time on WBCQ, don`t
give up
** U S A [non]. Harold Camping on 12055, Sept 10 before and after
2130, but not // WYFR 13615/11565, and 12055 did not sound at all like WYFR,
instead with ``generator hum``. This is registered as Ascension at 21-22, 65
degrees. Perhaps the upgrade there needs some tweaking. They certainly use
generators, but normally filter out the hum
** AUSTRALIA. Re my previous report of marine weather for Tasmania
on 6507-SSB at 1235: Jari Savolainen and Ron Howard point out that it`s now VMC
in Queensland; see schedules at http://www.bom.gov.au/marine/marine_weather_radio.shtml
I believe all the other Australian stations I mentioned from the
2002 listings were replaced by only two stations, VMC and VMW
** CANADA [and non]. CFRX check Sept 11: at 1111, CVC Chile with
fast SAH, estimated 10 Hz, likely caused by CFRX. At 1218, Japanese was heard on
6070, again with a fast SAH from CFRX. That would be V. of Korea, which is in
Japanese at 109 degrees from 0900 to 1250 or so, additional significant QRM to
CFRX, indeed blockage, in C&W NAm during those hours. My previous chex of
6070 a few minutes before 1300 had missed it, when CVC was presumably still
traceable before it closed.
A closer look at all the other known inhabitants of 6070, which
could bother CFRX. Of course, those in the local daytime are less likely to be a
problem, but increasingly so as winter comes on, especially in northern Ontario,
presumably the prime target of CFRX. This info is derived from EiBi, Aoki, PWBR,
WRTH, HFCC, some of which is contradictory:
0200-0100 Belarusian R., Brest, DS, 5 kW; winter 0300-0200 [PWBR]
0300-2100 Belaruskoye Radio 1, with Brest program M-F 15-16 [EiBi]
0600-0900 ELWA Liberia, 1 kW [DSWCI says 0530-0800]
0700-1230 RRI Jayapura, 50 kW [presumably inactive; see also 2100]
0900-1250 V of Korea, Japanese, 125 kW, 109 degrees; 1050-1100
break
1100-1230 R. Thailand, 10 kW ND, SE Asian languages [unconfirmed?
This
used to be a domestic service relay; PWBR says winter only,
1100-1245 from Pathum Thani site]
1330-1400 R. Rossii, Samara, Russia site, 250 kW, 58 degrees,
B-season
1400-1430 FEBC Philippines, 100 kW to SE Asia, Mon/Wed-Sat; winter
[PWBR]. Four Vietnamese tribal languages [EiBi]
1400-1700 V. of Russia, Novosibirsk, 500 kW, 180 degrees, S Asian
languages until 1600 English
1500-1700 TWR Swaziland, 100 kW to S Africa [listed in PWBR only]
1600-1700 WYFR via Armavir, Russia site, 250 kW, 110 degrees,
B-season
1600-1800 Brest, Belarus, 5 kW ND [Aoki]
1600-2300 ELWA Liberia, 1 kW [DSWCI says 1730-2300]
1700-1900 CRI Xi`an, Russian, 500 kW, 292 degrees, winter only
2100-0500 RRI Jayapura 50 kW DS, temp. inactive; also 0700-1200
[PWBR]
2200-2300 RRI Tiganesti, Spanish to Europe, 247 degrees, B-season
only
2300-1300 CVC La Voz, Miami via Chile 100 kW 30 degrees [B-season
0000-1200]
All of this should help make the case that CFRX really needs a
better, clearer frequency, perhaps in the less-crowded OOB area 5700-5800 (
** CHINA [non]. 6040, CRI via Sackville with China Drive DS relay,
Sept 11 at 1107 with M&W hosts inviting texts to 1066 9191 985 from people
who have decided not to commit suicide. Yes, that was the subject of the day,
apparently spurred by Suicide Prevention Day. Certainly a change of pace from
CRI`s external service. Mark spoke English while Ilan [sp?] mixed English with
Chinese. Broke for weather forecast from the point of view of morning in
Beijing, so I wondered if this was delayed from earlier, or maybe was referring
to morning in Boston for which weather forecast was also given. Then talked
about table tennis match in Paralympix, about to start in 20 minutes
** CUBA [and non]. At 1116, when 31m was not fully open, WWCR 9980
weak, and only Australia strong, there was a fair carrier with het on 9600 but
no modulation audible. Could it be XEYU coming back? Not likely, since carrier
was exactly on 9600.0 and the het was on the hi side, not the low side, where
XEYU resided around 9599.3v when last heard. At 1139, 9600 was barely
parallelable to 6180, so definitely RHC, and no more het. By 1200, the RHC 9600
signal was in solid, but very undermodulated. We still wonder whence the carrier
around 9601?
** HONDURAS. Two gospel huxters were trying to outdo each other in
the same way. Sept 11 at 1123, Radio Luz y Vida on 3250.0 had OM preacher in
American English with consecutive translation by YL into Spanish but she had a
heavy gringo accent. Alternated with very short phrases, and I assume she was
actually next to him during the sermon, rather than something inserted later.
Then I tuned to 3340 for Radio MI, and found another American OM
preacher in English, also being consecutively translated into Spanish by a YL,
but she speaks much better Spanish. Perhaps this is the way they like to get
their non-Catholic religion in Honduras? Would it be conceivable for the
original to be preached by a woman and the translation by a man?
** MEXICO. I was awake early Thursday Sept 11, so checked out R.
Educación, 6185, where Harry Helms heard something in -dad after 1000 on the
same day of week in August, but says he was not hearing it on Wed Sept 10. XEPPM
may be irregular, not on SW the day before, but it certainly was Sept 11. If
Harry can`t hear it in Corpus Christi, he may be in the skip zone at that
low-MUF hour, while at roughly twice the distance from DF, I am not.
1053 tune in to VG signal with music, but almost immediately into
talk for the rest of the hour. Live host mentioned program name ``Del Campo y de
la Ciudad``, which is on the XEEP-AM schedule Wed & Thu 1000-1200. All in
Spanish. Mentioned the 9/11 anniversary in the US, but it`s also the anniversary
of the US-sponsored assassination of Pres. Salvador Allende in Chile. Enumerated
chronology of Allende`s life, and introduced recording off the air of his last
speech, from Radio Magallanes, and it was also on R. Corporación, but
interrupted himself at 1101 to despedirse from 6185, referring listeners to MW
1060 or internet to continue listening, and 6185 turned off just before the clip
was to start!
Unfortunately, I was not prepared to switch to MW or Internet, so
that was that. He said nothing about SW coming back on around 1400, as it did
the day before. All along until 1102*, 6185 had a low het because XEPPM is
off-frequency, perhaps against China Huayi. Recheck at 1434, local noise sources
were on so I could not be positive, but could detect a carrier on 6185 so may
have come back again in daytime Sept 11
** BRAZIL. RNA, 11780 was reported from Brasil to have been missing
at least a couple days. Maybe, but regularly audible here, such as Sept 11 at
1857 in Portuguese, weaker than and badly squeezed between DGS Anguilla 11775
and WHRI 11785
** CROATIA [non]. 9925 via Germany, Sept 11 at 2227 in English,
only fair with fading, noise, 2229 ID as ``Croatian Radio, the Voice of
Croatia`` and continued in English past 2230 when it is supposed to switch to
Spanish
** CUBA. Mesa Redonda show from RHC must have started at 2200 Sept
11, as it was already underway at tune-in 2225 on 9820, but the modulation was
cutting out more than it was cutting on, despite big S9+25 signal. Wiggle that
patchcord! Only // is 6000, and that was OK, tho much weaker. Despite being
unlistenable on 9820, I have to say it was not as bad as WWRB 9385 with BS
double-breakup a few minutes earlier; see SOUTH CAROLINA [non]
** CUBA [non]. R. Martí weatherman, --- Domínguez, who has a
distinctive manner of speaking, is heard more frequently now, such as Sept 11 at
1947 on 13820 with detailed outlook for different provinces of Cuba. If you hear
``chubascos`` mentioned, you are probably hearing this meteorólogo. Then a
phone-in from Matanzas about evacuations, dam overflowing, flooding river, food
shortages developing, etc. At midday this is very strong and jamming often
inaudible. I could hear a bit during momentary fadedowns, as Castro & Castro
try to keep out The Truth.
The DentroCuban Jamming Command may be getting a handle on when not
to waste watts on WRMI. Sept 11 at 2228 check, heard something weak on 9955 in
English, presumably WRN relay, no jamming audible
** ROMANIA. RRI, 9790, Sept 11 at 2223 ending talk in English about
how to manage prescription medicine dosage during Ramadan. This can be a
problem, since fasting and taking medicine with food at certain intervals don`t
exactly mix. Did the inventors of Ramadan think of that??? Good signal but some
distortion. I guess it`s one of the new Galbeni transmitters
** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. Tuning across WWRB, 9385, which runs
Brother Scare all day, Sept 11 at 2211-2213 we were getting a double dose offset
by a second or two, and furthermore each was breaking up rapidly in picket-fence
fashion, making R. G. even more unintelligible than usual. Clicked back into
regular mode at 2213. One wonders exactly how this happens. Once there is
anything digital in the link from studio to transmitter, the risk increases
** U S A [and non]. WBCQ is still running 9329v kHz, as heard
financial discussion Sept 11 at 1853 on CSSB, but gone at 1904 recheck. Per WBCQ
schedule, it`s Money Talk, another show pushing gold, M-F only at 18-19. AFAIK,
9330 is not on the air at any other time now, so we can keep hoping and trying
for Syria after 1900 past 2300, but by barely modulating, they don`t cooperate
** VENEZUELA [non]. Near the end of the 1900 UT broadcast from RNV,
via Cuba 15290 at 1956 Sept 11, 2008, they ran their usual schedule announcement
in Spanish. If it starts with ``to San Francisco at 11 am on 13740``, as it did,
you know they STILL haven`t updated their transmission schedule announcement
since first coming on the air in April 2004! And the 13740 transmission ended
about a year later. The announced schedules not only include deleted times and
frequencies, but omit ones that have been added since, such as 1000 on 6180,
1100 on 6060, both of which I heard again Sept 11, the latter in English shortly
after it started. They are clueless in Caracas about when their Canal
Internacional is really on the air
** ZAMBIA. Surprised that CVC Lusaka, 13590, Sept 11 at 1859-1904
was putting in such a good signal so far from its target area, CIRAF 46SE, which
means Nigeria, but it is 100 kW at 315 degrees, which is also favorable for NAm,
scheduled for long hours, 06-21 UT, despite several other co-channel
transmissions during parts of that from Portugal, Germany, Russia and China, but
at this hour it is alone.
When I tuned in, announcer Brad was answering the question How big
is God? By computing how long it would take to count all the stars in the galaxy
at one per second (3000 years). I see. Then IDs/jingles as ``1Life, 1Way,
1Africa``. and the like. Maybe Brad has a South African accent rather than
Australian? Not sure. So is he really in the new RSA studio or the Queensland
one?
A continuous musical bed is running, and heavily produced, ŕ la
Rod Hembree, mere a cappella talk being too dull to hold the attention of the
younger African set this is aimed at, as evidenced by promo for SMS to 27 789
407 457 with the word ``friend`` in order to get a free friendship message in
reply. Whoopee! Stealth evangelism in axion.
This is in stark contrast to its neighbors on the dial, the
plodding Harold Camping on WYFR 13615, who also sounded a bit hoarse today, and
an equally soporific preacher on WINB 13570. At 1942 recheck, 1Africa was still
inbooming with lively praise music
** AUSTRALIA. RA, 11660, 2129 Sept 12 going from ``Saturday AM``
show to ``Saturday Extra``, with quick long-path echo. This is Shepparton at 70
degrees, same as on 9580 at 0800-1400 which inbooms here without an echo. The LP
is about 6.8 kilomiles longer than the SP, which makes a delay of .0366 second.
In DXLD 8-098 there was a report that 11660 is Brandon along with
9660 and 12080, but I don`t think so. EiBi and Aoki do show Brandon on 11660 at
this hour, but WRTH 2008 plus A-08 update and PWBR `2008` do not
** BULGARIA. Spanish on 11800, Sept 12 at 2148, I figured was
Habana as usual, but wait --- not // 11750, and doesn`t really sound like RHC
programming, as playing Auld Lange Syne! Turns out to be choral music program
from R. Bulgaria, Spanish ID in passing, and // 9400 at 2154. Looking at Aoki,
both stations are shown on 11800 in Spanish at 2100-2200, Habana aiming 53
degrees toward Spain, and Bulgaria aiming 260 degrees toward Spain. I had really
not noticed Bulgaria here before, and Habana`s signal was not especially strong,
but now apparently gone, resolving a collision, which must have been bad in
Spain. So what is RHC`s new frequency for this transmitter?
** CANADA [and non]. Sept 12 at 2213, found open carrier on 6070
and lite hum; 2228 maybe a trace of modulation and no SAH. I can only assume it
was CFRX. Others have reported ELWA until 2300 on 6070 with no QRM from Toronto,
so do they deliberately pause? At 2302 the usual fast SAH was evident, i.e. CFRX
vs CVC La Voz, Chile. Brian Alexander has measured CFRX on 6069.98, so it`s 20
Hz off, altho the SAH I hear isn`t that fast, so CVC must also be slightly low
** CUBA. After the big fuss in early August about RHC swapping
English and Spanish on 6180 and 6140, so that English to NAm ran 0100-0700 on
6140, I find Spanish back on that frequency at 0609 Sept 12. This is quite
strange, since RHC normally does not do any Spanish at all after 0500. This was
not a domestic service relay as sometimes heard on the 49m frequencies after
0700, but with an RHC ID, news headlines and 0611 into full newscast. Meanwhile,
nothing on 6180 but VOA, and RHC English on two very inferior transmitters, 6000
and worse 6060. A test, mistake, new scheduling, special, or what? RHC seems to
be in another schedule-changing mood; see also BULGARIA.
Sept 12 at 2157 found big open carrier on 9820, warming up for the
Mesa Redonda show. 2200 began playing electronic instrument excerpt from
``Siboney``, a famous piece of Cuban music. Must be a special interval signal
for the M.R. show, rather than theme music, as it was in a loop three or four
times before announcement opening the program at 2204. The host somehow managed
to interweave two seemingly totally unrelated topix: Los Cinco Héroes, and
coping with hurricane damage. Also on weaker // 6000
** EGYPT. R. Cairo, 11550, Sept 12 at 2130 with timesignal 33
seconds later than WWV, ID, opening news in English by YL, and with good
modulation for once! I was expecting it to drop out after the music ceased.
Unfortunately, signal was at about equal level to co-channel WEWN in Spanish, so
only marginally intelligible, and losing out as minutes ticked by. There are
plenty of open frequencies around this area. Why do these two insist on
colliding??
** GREECE [and non]. 7450 with Greek music from Macedonian service,
Sept 12 at 2211, marred by constant het on low side of less than 1 kHz. Avlis is
the only broadcaster in current schedules on 7450 at any time, so presumably a
utility transmitter is getting blasted
** MEXICO [non]. Altho a few days ago XEPPM was dominating 6185
after *2300, on Sept 12 at 2303 I found R. Nacional Amazônia instead, big
signal in Portuguese, totally blocking R. Educación if it was even on the air
** SAUDI ARABIA. 15435, huge S9+20 signal from BSKSA like a
pipeline from Riyadh, Sept 12 at 1709, Arabic talk and string music, 1712 ID,
1720 into reverent speech; some generator whine, but no buzz. 500 kW at 320
degrees toward us altho the nominal target is only Europe
** U S A. WBCQ Area 51 service, 5110, confirmed with WORLD OF RADIO
1425, Friday Sept 12 at 2301. More modulation on USB, but some also audible on
LSB side
** ALBANIA. R. Tirana, 9345, 2320 Sept 13, G signal with Albanian
music, lacking in higher audio frequencies
** CANADA. Yes, something is very wrong with CFRX, barely a week
after its reactivation from a biyear snooze. Sept 13 at 2253, fair carrier on
6070, but almost `open` --- occasionally I could make out a bit of modulation in
the CFRB you-must-hear-this style.
CBC NQ, 9625 reception is improving, such as Sat Sept 13 at 2338
with favourites such as ``Michelle, Ma Belle``, suitably bilingual, and until
2344, monolingual ``Mona Lisa``, by N. K. Cole, on Randy Bachman`s Vinyl Tap
show from CBC Radio One. Before 2300 I heard laughter, presumably CBC`s new
comedy show, Laugh Out Loud at 2230: http://www.cbc.ca/laughoutloud/
And on weekdays before 2200 there is Nunavut news
** CUBA [and non]. Nothing buy heavy jamming audible on 9955, Sat
Sept 13 at 2009 when WORLD OF RADIO has been running on WRMI. Also same at 2236
recheck.
Mesa Redonda taking a break on Saturday Sept 13; it is after all,
irregular, or usually M-F only: nothing on 9820 at 2322, raising hopes for new
R. Nove de Julho, Brasil which just opened on that frequency, but nothing more
than a very weak carrier detectable, which could be Xian or Guanxi, China.
Several more chex up to 0003 Sept 14, and 9820 still Cubaless and Brasiless.
The Cuban transmitter for 9820 could have been on 9600 instead,
since that frequency was already running at 2323 in big collision with Vatican
in Vietnamese. Quickly confirmed it was RHC, as music // 11680 but a reverb
apart. RHC normally does not start 9600 until 0000 except maybe Sundays 2330 for
Esperanto. At 2358 RHC modulation was pausing, allowing the VR IS to be heard in
the clear and then off at 0000 as RHC resumed.
Last spring when XEYU was sporadic on 9599.3, all it had to contend
with during the 2300 hour was Vatican, not Cuba. BTW, the Aoki listing of R. México
Internacional on 9600 is incorrect, as that station deceased years ago and did
not use this frequency anyway.
Meanwhile was checking RHC English on 9550 during the 2300 hour,
but never heard DXers Unlimited, Saturday Sept 13. Thought they might squeeze it
in, but still missing by 2345, and instead usual politically-charged stuff.
Maybe Arnie is busy getting all the jammers back to full capacity.
And I must say that with the exception of ``Ed Newman``, and Arnie
Coro, RHC is suffering from M&W announcers with poor dixion and heavy
accents. Can`t they find any more native speakers of English willing to spout
the party line? No more hijackers, soldiers of fortune, traitors or
extradition-avoiders to be made into international radio stars?
Someone questioned whether the DentroCuban Jamming Command, and R.
República were really on 9640; yes, reconfirmed Sept 14 at 0002 with RR on top
in talk about the space program, having just switched from 9515 until 2400. Yes,
Cubans must be protected from hearing about space!
RHC, 13760, Sept 14 at 0004, fair carrier but very undermodulated,
and modulation punched up a bit only on spikes
** CYPRUS. Tuned in 9760 just in time Sat Sept 13 to hear a bit of
Greek music at 2244 from CyBC, ID mentioning Kypros, good signal // much weaker
5930, but cut off at 2244:35 while music still playing
** EGYPT. R. Cairo, English to NAm, 9280, Sept 13 at 2310 Arabic
music at fair level, but half-second-late timesignal after 2315 led to drop in
modulation with news theme, and YL beginning newscast. Couldn`t make it out;
gave up
** MEXICO [and non]. While the day before, RNA was all over XEPPM
on 6185, on Sept 13 at 2300, Radio Educación was atop with national anthem and
sign-on, making a low het as usual. Would RNA Brasília please go back to 6180
in the evenings and after 0700? Much obliged
** MOROCCO. R. Médi 1, Nador, deserves its reputation for
wonderful music on 9575; Sept 13 at 2328-2326 in Arabic, man singing what seemed
like a round, backed by choral group chanting at a faster rate. 2347 soprano
with string instrument accompaniment, alternating with tenor
** NETHERLANDS [non]. 7395, Sept 13 at 2238 with announcements in
Indonesian, soft music, Suara --- something. Is a handy PWBR ``2008`` any help?
Of course not. But at 2250 R. Nederland singing ID. Figured it might be
Madagascar but B-08 schedules show it as via Tinang, Philippines, 250 kW at 200
degrees. Unusual time of day to be hearing that on 40m; maybe longpath, or
equinoxial conditions kicking in
** U S A. WWRB programming improves greatly when gospel-huxter
customers are lacking and Dave Frantz puts on his favorite fill music instead,
big band. This ran during the entire hour Sunday Sept 14, or at least from 0007
past 0055, on 3185. Tho I wonder how few records he has, as the old favorites
keep reappearing, e.g. starting tonight with In the Mood and Delightful,
Delovely. Perhaps these oldies are more suitable anyway for lack of fidelity
thru his SW modulators. Meanwhile at 0007 found 5050 in open carrier with hum;
5745 Brother Scare with hum; nothing on 6890
** AUSTRALIA. While PNG was in on 90m, PNG and Indonesia on 75m,
and Indonesia on 60m, I dared to check 2485 and could hear a bit of weak talk at
1253 Sept 15, presumably VL8K. Could only detect some very weak carriers on 2310
and 2325 kHz
** CUBA [and non]. The DentroCuban Jamming Command also blox QSO
with Ted Randall, via WRMI, checked Sunday Sept 14 at 1830, and nothing but
jamming heard on 9955. Show confirmed on webcast, a repeat of the Ronnie Milsap
interview, scheduled Sundays 1800-2000.
On RHC`s Despertar Con Cuba, Sept 15 around 1350 on 12000, Arnie
Coro filed a report about how a portable satellite receiving truck had been used
to get networks (radio and TV?) back on the air in eastern Cuba after normal
linx (terrestrial microwave?) had been disrupted by Ike. Also, a transmission
tower on Isla de la Juventud designed to withstand 250 km/hour winds was blown
down, as those must have reached 300 km/hour at ground level, even higher aloft.
I was still monitoring RHC on 12000 at 1401 Sept 15 when live YL
announcer, whose name I think is Bárbara, read the frequency info, for the
first time deleting 9550 and 11805 which were dropped weeks ago, but she still
didn`t get it completely right: started with 15120 and 1,360 [mil trescientos
sesenta, missing the 5], not realizing that 1360 could not possibly be a SW
frequency instead of 15360. 9600 was still on the list altho off at 1300. In
Voces de la Revolución, old tirades by Castro et al., at 1407, the 12000
modulation was growing more and more distorted tho // 11760 remained OK. Wiggle
that patchcord!
** INDONESIA. Sept 15 was a good Indonesian morning, as I started
checking at 1239. K-index at 1200 and 1500 was 4. SF = 67 Sept 14.
3995, RRI Kendari, 1244 Sept 15, Indo talk by YL, sounded much like
4750, but not //; QRM zero-beat from SSB hams who take this as a BFO rather than
a DX catch on its own merits, merely a broadcaster. 1245 into music. Too much
QRM on 3976 to detect any RRI.
4605, RRI Serui presumed, barely audible with a song at 1239.
Traces still at 1304.
4750, RRI Makassar, YL in Indo talk, much stronger than 4605 at
1240 Sept 15; at first thought it was over some co-channel, but then decided it
was background noise from the venue transmitted; it would surge during brief
pauses tnx to excessive limiter setting. Mentioned berita a couple times. 1304
recheck in music; 1325 M&W dialog, 1344 still audible, stronger than 4790.
4790, RRI Fak2, Sept 15 at 1240 with OM, what else, reciting
Qur`an, unlike all the other Indos heard this and other mornings. What`s with
this one anyway, fancying itself more Islamic than the others? Still Qur`aning
at 1304 recheck. Nothing audible on 4870, 4920
** JAPAN. JOZ, R. Nikkei, 3925 at 1250 Sept 15 with Switched-on
Bach, which they always seem to play around this time on 6055 and 9595 as well.
3925 signal is the main one from Asia on 75m even when others are not making it,
but this date also had 3905 from PNG and 3995 from Indonesia, qq. vv.
** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. After finding Indonesians on 60m, since the
local noise level was lower than usual, the morning of Sept 15 at 1247 I went
down to 75, 90 and 120m, see also AUSTRALIA and JAPAN, and found lots of signals
on frequencies matching PNG outlets, but I could not keep up with all of them:
3205, 3235, 3325, 3335, 3345, 3365, 3385, 3905. Some details:
3205: 1247 music; 1303 choral music
3235: 1247 different music than 3205; 1302 string music
3325: 1248 music with hi-pitched singing
3335: 1248 music; 1301 open carrier, then talk resuming
3345: 1248 carrier
3365: 1249 carrier
3385: 1249 music, best signal of the lot, R. East New Britain,
Rabaul; 1258 YL announcement in Pidgin; 1300 sounds of seabirds, 1301 news by
OM, S9+10 with flutter; 1318 the only one left, YL talk.
3905: 1250 music, SSB ham QRM.
K-index was 4, and solar flux for the day before was the usual 67.
But on Sept 15, higher bands were useless, nothing beyond the strongest signals
from the Americas on 11, 13, 15 MHz
** SWEDEN [non]. R. Sweden`s Monday Sept 15 show in the last half
was about Belarus and how little Swedes know about that nearby country, even
still calling it White Russia contrary to UN requirements. Most inhabitants
speak Russian rather than Belarusian, but broadcasts from abroad can help keep
the native language alive; also about the need for Sweden to provide freedom of
information to Europe`s last dictatorship. Heard here on 15240 via Sackville at
1445; worth listening to on later repeats or on demand for a month
** CANADA. Open carrier on 6070, Sept 16 at 1406 check. Possibly
within sight of the antenna one might pull a trace of modulation. Now that CFRX
has ceased modulating, it`s academic whether they change to a clear frequency.
As long as they stay within SAH range of 6070.0, the carrier won`t be much of a
problem to CVC, ELWA or the other stations I enumerated in a previous report,
and we can go back to 1010 or webcast if we really want to hear it.
O, things improved a little, Sept 17 at 1301, CFRB news and traffic
report just barely audible, very low modulation for the carrier level. Maybe
there is hope
** CUBA [and non]. Ho hum, another egregious discrepancy to report
about, if not to, RHC. Sept 15 at 2310 check, 11680 modulation was cutting off
and on, more off than on, every second or two. During the pauses REE Spain could
be heard clearly, including an ID from it. Perhaps this is the first step in
getting RHC off the frequency completely, which it started a few months ago in
total disregard of REE`s occupancy already, causing a 3-hour collision. Rather
than two hours; RHC supposedly starting at 0000.
Congrats to Bárbara on Despertar con Cuba, Sept 16 at 1401 on
15370, who finally got the updated frequency announcement right, saying 15360
instead of 1360 yesterday. Well, not quite. It still claims to be on 9600, 6180
and 6000 at this hour but it isn`t.
News summary following mentioned that the damage caused by HH.
Gustav & Ike amounted to some 5000 million dollars, and that the disaster
has been managed well, tnx to The Revolution. Now what would that be in
worthless Cuban pesos?
Checked again Sept 17 at 1403, she says: 15120, 15360; 13760 and
from 1300 13680; 11760, 12000; 9600; 6000, 6180; and from 1300 15370. This is
still not correct. Since a couple frequencies are specified as starting at 9 am,
they should also specify when other frequencies end: namely 6000 until 1400*;
and 6180 confirmed Sept 17 until 1300*, also the case with 9600.
The online schedule at http://www.radiohc.cu/espanol/frecuencia/frecuencias-espanol.htm
makes clear what happens at 1300. The New York beam changes from
6180 to 15370; the Chicago beam from 9600 to 13680.
Just when you think RHC has made every mistake possible on the
discrepancy roster, they come up with something new and different!
UT Sept 17 at 0533 on my nightly scan of 49m, I find on 6140 //
6000 RHC in English mixed at about equal level with RHC in Portuguese?! These
transmitters are getting dual audio feeds, Portuguese not even supposed to be on
RHC anywhere near this time, ending at 0000 per sked. How could this happen;
automation gone haywire with no human oversight?
Weakest 6060, however, was in English only, evidence that it is at
a different site getting a different feed, and that was the only frequency where
we could hear DXers Unlimited at 0540 without self-QRM, the 31 and 25mb
frequencies if on, not propagating. Hmmm, 9550 is no longer shown at 0500 in the
English sked below; is it really off? Arnie was enjoying a nice blue sky again
Tuesday morning, autumn in the air.
The above frequency page from RHC website has finally been updated,
about 6 months late, headed March-October 2008 rather than October 2007-March
2008. It now shows the new morning frequencies 15360 and 15120 which started a
sesquimonth ago. No longer says Quechua or Guarani is temporarily replaced by
more Portuguese.
English is now shown as: INGLÉS
Río de Janeiro
9550 31 23–24
Caribe
13680 22 20:30–21:30
América del Norte 6140
/ 6000 / 6060 31 / 49 01–07 / 01–07 / 05-07
Norte Centro y Suramérica 11760 / 11760 25 20:30-21:30 / 05–07
So the 2030-2130 English broadcast is finally on the schedule, no
longer secret! I was not aware of 13680 being in use for that, as the // to
11760 had been 9505 when last confirmed. 13680 now needs to be confirmed. We
always thought the 9550 broadcast at 23-24 was for Caribe rather than all the
Anglophiles in Rio.
This confusing layout requires one to match up the frequencies
separated by slants with the timespans respectively to the right on the same
lines. Note the spurious ``31`` on the NAm line. Was 9550 still supposed to go
with it after 0500 as before?
As for the report of RHC being heard on 11880, we looked for that
Sept 16 at 2102, but nothing there. Presumably indeed a typo for 11800, but at
that hour we heard on 11800 just an open carrier with a 2 Hz SAH and very weak
audio under, which would be RHC failing to modulate and R. Bulgaria Spanish as
scheduled. RHC OK on 11750 in Spanish, 11760 English. Posted schedule shows
11800 in Spanish to Caribe at 21-23.
The only Arabic broadcast on it is at 2030-2100 on 11800 to Caribe,
11750 to Europe. More anomalies: the sked shows:
MESA REDONDA (lunes a viernes y días especiales)
América del Norte 6000
/ 9820 49 / 31 23 – 01
But as we have recently observed, usually starts at 2230 or even
2200!
ALÓ PRESIDENTE (domingo) 14-
América Central 13680
22
Caribe
11690 25
América del Sur 11875
/ 17750 25 / 16
América del Norte 13750
11690 for Caribe would be new, and colliding with HCJB until 1500.
This has been on 11670, so has it really moved, or another typo?
** CUBA [non]. 13820, Sept 17 at 1335 with Hallelujah Chorus, not
exactly what one would expect from R. Martí in September, nor talk in Russian
which followed, but then back into Spanish, over jamming. Must have been a
period drama or docu
** INDONESIA [and non]. Unlike Sept 15, on Sept 17 programming was
quite different on RRI. A speech (sermon?) in a public venue, at 1310 on 4750 //
weaker 4790 and 3995; and also // 9680 checked at 1324 when Qur`aning was in
progress. 4750 now had a het on the hi side, and Makassar has been measured on
the lo side, so now we have something else closer to 4750.0, most likely China,
but Bangladesh would be nice. 4750 and the het were still audible at 1340. FE
conditions on higher bands were poor, with 9680 JBA, 11785 VOI het only, weak
signals from VOA Korean 11740, Firedrake 11990 and 12040
** JAPAN. R. Nikkei, 6055, with German lessons, Tuesday Sept 16 at
1306, e.g. ``Der Tisch kostet 900 Euro,`` and discussing German`s peculiar
pronunciation of the monetary unit. This was really a lecture in Japanese with
frequent lapses into German examples. Together with Switched On Bach every
night, JOZ seems to exhibit Deutschophilia. But next day, Wednesday Sept 17 at
1304 a similar exposition in Japanese on English usage, ex. ``Could you tell me
where the sporting goods are?`` Now how would that go in German?
** MEXICO. XEOI, 6010 is pretty reliable, weak but in the clear
here in the 1300 hour, but no sign of it Sept 17 at 1305 check. Mexican music
lives! But not today
** PALAU. Not even a carrier audible on 12095, Sept 17 at 1333,
when Democratic V. of Burma was supposedly testing via T8BZ; but FE conditions
were poor, weak signals on 11740, 11990, 12040. Did anyone confirm DVB the last
three days on 12095 at 13-14?
** U S A [non]. Like clockwork, VOA`s Korean service breaks for a
song in English at 1315 UT on 5890,
and 11740 if it is propagating. Sept 16 it was ``O Danny Boy``, by YL, a.k.a.
London Derričre, so I can`t keep calling it from the ``American Songbook``
** CANADA. CFRX, 6070, undermodulated but readable for a while,
with phone number for call-in, Sept 18 at 1250, which must have been shortly
after North Korea signed off. Much softer than its neighbors JOZ on 6055,
Firedrake on 6085. By a few minutes after 1300, CFRX had weakened enough so that
its puny modulation was not enough to overcome the noise level. The engineer was
supposed to be looking into this problem when he could get around to it
** CHINA. Firedrake on 9310, instead of usual 9300, Sept 18 at
1258, poor; presumably because Sound of Hope was on 9310 today too
** CUBA. Checking some questions raised in my previous report: Sept
17 at 2100, zero on 13680 which is supposed to be a new frequency for English //
11760 at 2030-2130; but nothing audible either on the former // 9505. If it were
on 13680 this would be a big improvement over the 9 MHz channel getting buried
in the afternoon haze. RHC was in on 13760 at the same time in Spanish, but low
modulation cutting in and out, while playing new(?) Siboney interval
signal/theme, so it`s not limited to Mesa Redonda where I first noticed it. This
tune is only a few notes repeated over and over every few sex, so can drive you
nuts even quicker than REE`s IS, which it sorta resembles.
The newly revised RHC online transmission schedule is also wrong
about English after 0500. Tho it sometimes does not propagate, as when recently
checked, 9550 is still on the air tho omitted from the schedule, with `Ed
Newman` doing `news` and propagating too, UT Sept 18, confirmed at 0524 with
only fair signal; not making it on 11760 if that was still on. On 25m, the only
significant signal was CVC Chile on 11665. Also on 49m, the RHC frequencies were
in English only, not mixed with Portuguese. One has the impression that the
webmaster is just dealing with meaningless numbers, does not even monitor the
station, and has no `feel` for what really must be happening, sorting out
contradixions, etc.
And you never know what will happen with the DentroCuban Jamming
Command. Altho WRMI 9955 was jammed this past weekend both during WORLD OF RADIO
and QSO with Ted Randall, on Sept 18 at 1850 and 1920 chex, no jamming --- but
no signal here from WRMI either unless that was the very weak carrier detectable
with BFO. If jammed, that would have been propagating, as jamming vs Martí on
9565 was audible.
Speaking of which, earlier at 0505 UT on 9565 I noticed three tones
or carriers mixed, not the kind of thing you normally get even from residual
runover jamming. R Martí is currently scheduled on 9565 only at 17-24, altho
Aoki thinx it`s only 20-22.
The next afternoon, Sept 18, things were quite different at
2040-2045 check! Feedlines mixed up, or yet more unannounced changes? Still
nothing on 13680, but 11760, supposed to be RHC English, instead was relaying
Venezuela in Spanish with sports report, // much weaker 17705, the only
frequency it is supposed to be on during this hour. No RHC English on 9505, no
signal. Nothing audible on 11800 or 11880 either, but 11750 was in RHC Arabic.
Result: the 2030-2130 English broadcast was missing completely, which would have
matched the posted sked until its recent update
** INDIA. I have a harder time here in CNAm getting AIR than they
do on either coast since it`s closer to transpolar to OK. So all I can report is
that there were weak signals with talk Sept 18 at 1229 and 1237 on 5010 (too
early for Madagascar) and also at 1246 on 4940, frequencies matching AIR T`ram
and G`ati. Several more common frequencies matching China, Indonesia and PNG
were also in, 5030, 4900, 4790, 4750, 3995, 3905, 3385, 3335, 3325. Maybe on a
better equinoxial sunrise I will be able to pull something identifiable from
India on 60m
** INDONESIA. RRI Fak2, 4790 with Qur`an yet again, Sept 18 at
1328, while RRI Makassar, 4750 was doing something else
** MEXICO. Missing the morning before, R. Mil, XEOI was audible on
6010 again Sept 18 at 1235 talking about anniversary of the PAN, and still talk
at 1326 about petróleo. So ``Mexican music lives`` only in the sense of
suspended animation during this news/talk hour
** U S A. Interest in KGOW, 1560, seemed to vanish after its night
on the world stage, running 50 kW as H. Ike was passing thru metro Houston.
Perhaps everyone assumed it would immediately go back to 100+ watts at night.
However, 5 nights later, UT Sept 18 at 0520, I found it again dominating the
channel, but hardly with emergency programming relaying KPRC-2. Caught my ear
with an amusing song, ``Go Away, Ike``, then adstring, including a local phone
number, 713-666-1101 for geothermal air conditioning from Indoor Comfort
Specialists, http://1560ac.com --- with a website like
that I was beginning to wonder if this too was a parody, but it really worx,
forwarding to http://www.indoorcomfortspecialist.com/
--- I assume this allows the sponsor and the station to track how many heard the
ad on 1560. By clicking on it here you will help to skew those findings.
Then something about the Astros playing away. 0523 finally non-ID
as ``1560 The Game``, and promo for John Granado Program on ``1560 The Train``,
yuk2. In fact this and previous items were run twice in a row. At 0526 resumed
current show which was a ``September 15 recap``, why? Trying to decide whether
something was spelled jenkum or jenkem, and story about one of the hosts being
hit in the face with a bag of dog urine and crap at some club. At this point I
had had enough, sure anyway that it was really KGOW. While it did not overpower
all the QRM on 1560, it certainly dominated even on a long-wire not aimed toward
Houston. When running daytime facilities at night because of an emergency, isn`t
it supposed to be non-commercial and with axual emergency info?
** U S A [non]. Good carrier on 7390 turned into R. Free Asia
opening in Burmese with English ID, Sept 18 at 1330 via Tinian; then tuned down
to 7365 and heard Chinese, which per Aoki is VOA in Cantonese via Tinang. The
latter had residual jamming pulses, but I doubt if they were of much help in
Guangzhou to the Chicom who must have been doing their own jamming, tho not
audible here. The only hours the DentroCubans really need to jam the
FueraCubans` Martí on 7365 are 23-04
** AFGHANISTAN [non]. R. Solh, 17700 via Rampisham UK, Sept 20 at
1641 with familiar music I used to hear during earlier hours, drums and fifes
and singer. Was expecting a break at 1700, but other music continued; fair
** BRAZIL. 11735, station in Portuguese, Sept 20 at 1415, music and
mentioned Mundial; presumably R. Transmundial, seldom heard here, instead of
Germany or Korea North also scheduled on 11735 this hour. Amazônia 11780 was
also audible. At 1452 11735 was discussing futebol; just how religious is this
station? Oh yeah, soccer is a religion in Brasil
** CANADA [and non]. CFRX, 6070, presence was felt making a rapid
SAH and with some audio mixing with CVC Chile, Sept 20 around 0605; at 1243,
6070 had an audible het, so is Korea North further off-frequency? Also some CFRX
audio, but unusable
** CUBA. Another check the afternoon of Sept 19 to see how screwed
up they are today: axually more or less normal, as the RHC English broadcast was
back in business on 11760 at 2031 and again at 2110 check. Earlier at 2002,
11760 was opening French late. 11750: at 2002, Portuguese with hum and whine;
2031 Arabic with same; 2110 in Spanish and weaker than // 13760 now on air.
Still no sign of listed 13680 in English; 17705 had a JBA carrier at 2031,
presumably RNV
** INDONESIA. VOI best heard in weeks, Sept 19 at 1337 on 11784.9
--- and that isn`t saying much. I could make out some gamelan music, then YL
announcing in English, but otherwise unusable. This was possiblized only by the
unexpected absence of Firedrake and VOA on 11785.0, apparently weird
propagation. Or attenuation, since there was still something on 11785.0 to make
a weak het. VOA Korean 11740 was also absent (but not the bonker!) as was NHK
11705. But forget about VOI on weekends with WHRI on 11785
** JAPAN [non]. NHKWNRJ, 11705 via Canada was rather weak Sept 20
at 1414 during mailbag show, and had co-channel QRM from rapid talk in unID
language, certainly not the usual pre-echo from NHK Yamata direct, also in
English. Since this was Saturday, EiBi has the answer:
11705 1330-1530 Sa G BBC SWA EAf /AFS
11705 1530-1630 Sa G BBC SWA EAf /SEY
That is, BBC`s Saturday-only Swahili broadcast via South Africa.
Just as the theorititians never dreamed that NHK could interfere with itself in
CNAm, I am sure they never expected this BBC service to bother NHK either
** LIBYA. 17725, Sept 20 at 1639 with chanson, i.e. song in French,
lo-fi and fading in and out. Per EiBi this must be V. of Africa, with French at
16-17. It is seldom audible here when in English at 14-16
** MAURITANIA. I often check 4845 after 0600 for R. Mauritanie.
Usually it isn`t there, but it was Sept 19 with soporific chanting, just what I
need, unlike the morning crowd over there. Maybe because it was Friday.
OTOH, with Ramadan, people may stay up all night feasting, and then
go to bed at sunrise, since you can`t eat all day, anyway. Might as well sleep
through as much of it as possible. But then you still have to be awake for
mandatory prayer times.
BTW, Ramadan/Ramzan is going to get tougher and tougher for the
faithful in the North Temperate Zone, where most Moslems live, not including
Indonesia, as the holy month precesses closer and closer to the summer solstice,
i.e. longest days of the year. In 2015y it will start around June 18: http://www.when-is.com/ramadan-2015.asp
but 2016 will be worst as far as encompassing the most longest days.
Did the inventors of Ramadan and the lunar calendar think of that?
Hmmm, this could explain why there are so few Moslems in the
Arctic.
Do those who go there now, e.g. for scientific research, get
special dispensation to break fast according to Mecca latitude if not time zone?
** MEXICO. XERTA, 4800, Sept 20 at 0614 immediately as I tuned in
played English ID by YL, including website; fair with CODAR QRM only. Around
sunrise, such as 1235, this just makes a het with Guatemala on slightly
different frequencies.
XEOI, 6010, Sept 20 at 1240 check really with Mexican music instead
of talk block; perhaps because it`s Saturday
** SUDAN [non]. 17690, Sat Sept 20 at 1501, YL in English with
heavy accent talking about Darfur peace agreement, backed by music sounding like
steel drum. This is Sudan Radio Service, via Sines, Portugal. Per EiBi, it`s M-F
1500-1700 in Arabic, except 1530-1600 English; Sat/Sun 1500-1530 English,
1530-1600 Arabic. Fair signal
** U S A. RHC isn`t the only station broadcasting two programs at
once on the same transmitter. Sat Sept 20 at 1246 on WWCR-3 7490, found that
Rock The Universe was competing at equal or even lesser audio level with another
program, America`s Greatest Heroes, from USA net, which had just paused for a
sports update; overdone drama about ratifying the Constitution, little states
like Jersey vs big ones like Virginia.
How could this happen? WWCR-1 on 15825 was inaudible as usual this
early, but scheduled on that was The Baptist Hour, and AGH not likely to be on 2
or 4 with DGS and PPP. I seem to recall AGH used to be on WWCR, but it`s not
found at any time on their current online schedules, not updated since August 8.
Perhaps on the WWCR-3 control board, someone left a pot open hooked to the USA
network feed which they do need at other times, in addition to the pot playing
RTU; and nobody noticed
** BRAZIL. Good open carrier on 11780, at 0552 Sept 21, no doubt
RNA Brasília; still no modulation at 0600 and 0608 check, but finally some soft
music at 0615. I think this one signs on earlier on Sundays than other days for
some reason, contrary to what you might expect. Just wait until mid-October when
Brazil pretends local time is UT -2, which should knock this another UT hour
earlier. Not much else was audible on 25m besides Chile 11665
** CANADA. 6030, Sept 21 at 1230 with talkshow discussing
co-enzymes, briefly over Cuban jamming leftover after R. Martí closed. I don`t
see how it could be anything but 100-watt CFVP Calgary, despite the
country-music format of parent CKMX, which does not show a schedule grid at http://www.classiccountryam1060.com/shows
If they do have talk shows, or more likely infomercials, I suppose
the early-Sunday-morning ghetto would be the place for them
** CUBA. While on Sept 17 I had heard RHC English 6000 and 6140
equally mixed with RHC in Portuguese, on Sept 21 at 0614 the same thing was
happening but this time in Spanish --- again, at this late hour no Spanish is
ordinarily broadcast on any RHC frequency. And once again, the other frequency,
6060, was clear in English only. No other major SW broadcaster is so continually
screwed up.
Checking the last contradixion on RHC`s updated website schedule,
just as I suspected, Aló, Presidente is NOT on 11690 as listed, but on usual
11670, Sunday Sept 21 at 1452 check, // 11875, 13680, all weak and a reverb
apart from 11670, and very strong 13750, the only one aimed this way; not
audible on 17750 so probably not propagating.
To summarize, the following entries in http://www.radiohc.cu/espanol/frecuencia/frecuencias-espanol.htm
are WRONG, as confirmed by my axual monitoring the past week:
Spanish:
11680 on the air as early as 2300, not 0000
Spanish Mesa Redonda:
9820, 6000 starts as early as 2200 or 2230, not 2300
Spanish Aló, Presidente:
Sundays 1400-, on 11670, not 11690
English:
To Caribbean, 2030-2130 on 13680: no sign of it; is French at
2200-2230 also missing from 13680?
There are a few other entries in other languages I have not
confirmed one way or the other. The above does not include obvious mistakes,
even if they happen more than once, such as one day Venezuela instead of RHC
English on 11760
** CZECHIA. 13580, Sunday Sept 21 at 1320, nice folk music from R.
Prague, but wrapping up at 1324 as ``Magic Carpet`` show. It must be very brief
as there are several other programs on the semi-hour Sunday broadcasts. More at http://www.radio.cz/en/html/magic_carpet.html
They say they cannot audio archive the shows, but I assume they are
available in the daily audio files linked at the right for the entire broadcast
** IRELAND [non]. DRM on 11710-11715-11720, Sunday Sept 21 at 1308,
weaker than a fortnight ago. This is the second September sports special from
RTE, football final via Rampisham UK; this time no KJES audible in the middle.
So it indeed started again as early as 1300 UT, contrary to RTE`s own website
which said from 3 pm local = 1400 UT. Nothing audible on the analog relays via
South Africa, 11695, 11960, the latter totally blocked by HCJB
** RUSSIA. R. Rossii, 7320 via Magadan, Sept 21 at 0556 M&W
talk with several IDs in passing before hourtop, better than any other
non-American outsending on 40-41m. Time signal at 0600 was 4 seconds slow
compared to WWV, so why bother? It`s incredible how many SW stations, even ones
from major countries with the capability to get them right, get them wrong,
misleading millions of listeners. Into Vesti, info program from R. Rossii
** SWEDEN [non]. 11640, surprised to find very good signal in
Swedish, Sunday Sept 21 at 1310, talk and music. Surely has to be R. Sweden, and
surely has to be Sackville relay. Trouble is, this transmission is supposed to
be on 15240, as in online references, and R. Sweden`s own http://www.sr.se/cgi-bin/International/nyhetssidor/artikel.asp?nyheter=1&ProgramID=2076&Artikel=493601
Sackville has used 11640 previously for special relays of RNW at
other times, so the frequency is probably on their roster for up-punching as a
big mistake. Unfortunately, did not check 15240, but I bet it was missing
** TURKEY. VOT`s fortnightly DX Corner on Saturdays I confirmed UT
Sunday Sept 21 at 0321-0327 on webcast, but probably would also have been
audible via Canada 7325 and even direct on 5975. It was hosted by the main
announcer, Seref [Isler]. Items as follows:
1, Ramadan greetings
2, There *will be* special event ham station TC4X for SSB contest
Sept 13-14
3, From Bangladesh: birthday greetings from his wife to a
well-known DXer who will be 31 on October 13. Could not catch his name
4, UK`s new broadcasts to Afghanistan border area from August 21,
like VOA`s phone-ins for Pakistan`s NWFP allowing Pashtuns there to express
themselves; attributed to Sunday Herald, Glasgow, Sept 14
5, Radio Andorra history site, URL quickly given once and
impossible to copy. This was surely taken from DXLD 8-103 without credit, or
from the original source quoted without credit:
``ANDORRA. THE HISTORY OF RADIO ANDORRA
http://f5nsl.free.fr/andorre/amenuen.html
This page is available in English and French
(Sheldon Harvey, Sept Radio HF Internet Newsletter via DXLD)``
6, in six months the 7100-7200 range will go back from broadcasting
to ham radio, IARU story which has also appeared in DXLD
.** U S A. 4426-SSB, Sept 21 at 0604, robot OM voice reading
``urgent marine information broadcast`` concerning missing vessels. They all
sounded the same, but details varied, with different dates, Sept 13 back to Sept
10, different coordinates, etc. All came from USCG Honolulu and concerned
Pacific waters; however I don`t find Hono listed on this frequency but instead
NMC San Francisco, and NMN Virginia, so presumably the former. One concerned the
sailing vessel ``Freedom``, with its description, one person aboard, did not
make it to destination San Diego
** U S A. WHRI missing from 9410, Sunday Sept 21 at 1250; normally
they run their own fill programming during this hour Sat & Sun, since the
BBC Mundo Spanish relay is M-F only.
9840, Sept 21 at 1259, Full ID from WHRI, presumably just signing
on; voice audio was OK, but terrible quality on Onward, Christian Soldiers theme
music, as if from a low bitrate internet feed instead of hi-fi satellite; 1300
into Lutheran Reformation Hour
** BRAZIL [non]. Not only is R. 9 de Julho blocked on 9820 by Cuba
when Mesa Redonda is on at variable times between 2200 and 2400, but note that
RDPI, Portugal is also scheduled on 9820 at 1900-2300. However, Brazilian
Portuguese sounds a lot different than Portuguese Portuguese. I heard some of
that weakly Sept 22 at 2204, and really nothing else on frequency, unless some
fading could be imagined to be a SAH from Săo Paulo. Why in the world would a
new Brazilian SW station choose to be on the same frequency as Portugal?
** CANADA. CBC Northern Québec, 9625, Sept 22 at 2135 with
native-accented announcer in English giving detailed weather forecasts for many
unrecognised small communities, temps mostly in the single digits. 2139 a break
for a song about how to play poker, The Gambler? So are there casinos everywhere
up there now too and/or is CBC encouraging the First Nations to become gambling
addicts? 2142 more weather for another northern region. This is the M-F
2130-2200 northern news block cutaway from CBC network programming
** CHINA. Firedrake on 13625, Sept 22 at 2113. Per Aoki, target is
R. Free Asia in Chinese via Tinian at 17-22, which was inaudible
** CUBA. RHC still missing from 11800, tho it is still on their
revised online schedule at 20 Portuguese, 2030 Arabic, 21-22 Spanish; instead
Sept 22 during the 2100 UT hour heard only R. Bulgaria in Spanish, wrapping up
at 2158, to carrier off at 2200.5. I am still wondering if 11800 has been
replaced by an unknown channel or if these transmissions are simply gone. Also
checked 13680 after 2200, and nothing there, despite on the schedule as in
French. At that time nothing on 11750 either, also supposed to be on in Spanish.
The only RHC Spanish frequencies audible at 2203 were 13760, poor and splashed
by much stronger Portugal on 13755; and 9550.
Looking for R. 9 de Julho, Brasil on 9820, I found RHC not on the
air yet at 2204 Sept 22, instead Portugal audible weakly, but at 2230 recheck
Habana was on with big signal in Mesa Redonda, a TV simulcast, starting with a
clip from Dr. Fidel Castro Ruz, dictator emeritus
** ECUADOR. HCJB Spanish, 11960 at 1329:30 Sept 22 automated ID
about Ecuador being the third-largest exporter of flowers, and still claiming to
be on 21455: ``11690, 21455, 11960`` altho the 13m frequency was dropped months
ago per HCJB`s own publicity at the time.
9745, Sept 22 at 2206 with music which at first seemed SE Asian,
and afternoon opening from over there certainly possible, screeching soprano
with rustic string instrument accompaniment. Could it be V. of Han, Taiwan? No,
talk at 2211 certainly did not sound SE Asian, but more S American Indian. 2217
music resumes, segué at 2228 to a bit of more familiar Andean music and 2229
HCJB ID with numbers pronounced in Spanish. This is just the Quechua service,
100 kW at 155 degrees, but rather weak and fluttery here as equatorial signals
sometimes are
** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. After a month or so on the air almost every
day, R. Africa, 15190 missing again, Sept 22 at 2115 when no adjacent QRM.
Believe it was also absent Sept 21, and maybe 20. Tsk tsk, Tony Alamo, just
raided for alleged child porn and sexual abuse, had been a regular in the 2200
UT hour
** GERMANY [non]. After hearing DW English, VG on 15205 and 11865
via Rwanda, also found it on 9735, Sept 22 at 2135, running a second behind with
report on fashion shoes. 9735 is Rampisham UK, 500 kW at 140 degrees, but this
site does a good job off the back of its antennas, while Rwanda reaches us off
the front beyond the W African target
** GUAM. 11850 with hymn, Sept 22 at 2121, then Japanese
announcement, more music, off abruptly at 2129*, no ID caught. Per Aoki, it`s
KSDA, which should have continued in English at 2130, but not noticed here
** INDIA. AIR, 15050, Sinhala service better than usual just a
sesquihour before equinox, Sept 22 at 1402 nice vocal music with tabla and
chimes, modulation OK, some trans-polar flutter but better signal than an hour
earlier. 1410 into talk, and modulation not so good. With BFO on, carrier
wobbled slightly but maybe due to Doppler effect rather than transmitter
instability. This is 174 degrees from Delhi/Kingsway, so could be longpath
** ROMANIA. RRI, 9790, Sept 22 at 2208 news in English about
politics, Romanian names mentioned, merits of unicameral vs bicameral
parliament, fair aside Sackville DRM 9795-9800-9805. 2210 ID as Radio Newsreel
on Radio Romania International
** SWEDEN [non]. As I previously reported, the 1300 broadcast in
Swedish was heard Sept 21 on 11640 instead of scheduled 15240, and it was again
on 11640 Sept 22, 1327-1329* discussing fytbal. This led me to check at 1430,
and sure enough, 11640 Sackville relay came back on with English, also instead
of 15240. Unfortunately, I missed which frequency George Wood announced at the
opening. The CRI relays via Sackville are funxioning normally on 15260, 15220.
So how is the relay transmitter `broken` if it can run on 11640 without warning,
instead of 15240? O, as I type, at 1435, George said that the 1430 would be on
11640 instead of 15240 till further notice. And the R. Sweden English page now
says:
``New Frequency --- Following a technical fault at one of Radio
Canada International’s transmitter antennas at Sackville, a new antenna has
been set up, but our transmissions are now on a new frequency. Instead of 15240
kHz, the broadcast in English to North America at 1430 UT is now using 11640
kHz, in the 25 meter band. The change is expected to continue until our new
shortwave schedule at the end of October.``
** U S A. Tony Alamo Ministries, whose compound in Fouke, Arkansas,
was raided on suspicion of child porn and sexual abuse, is scheduled on WWCR M-F
1300-1400 on 15825. So at the next opportunity I tried to listen, Sept 22 at
1312. I missed the opening so cannot be certain it was still Alamo; very poor
reception here in usual skipzone. No fire & brimstone here, just low-key
talk at the moment about tsunamis, earthquaxe. He`s on lots of other radio
stations, but apparently no TV ministry; at least I don`t find Alamo, searching
TV schedules.
WWCR DGS service, 13845 is normally in the clear, tho usually weak
in skip zone here only one megameter away from Nashville, but Sept 22 at 2112
had QRM from hi-speed RTTY on 13847. At 2202 recheck WWCR was weaker, starting
to echo with multipath or backscatter and RTTY was stronger
** AUSTRIA. 13730 with horn and piano classical music before and
after 1330 Sept 24, fair; Ö1 has this frequency entirely to itself 0500-1600 or
1700 per listings --- except when Sound of Hope draws Firedrake there as Aoki
notes
** CUBA. 15330, noise bursts at the rate of 2 per second, Sept 23
at 1315. Old habits die hard for the DentroCuban Jamming Command --- R. Martí
hasn`t used this frequency all summer, but will again in the B-season between
1400 and 2000. 11930 had the same type of pulse rate but not exactly
synchronized, with bubbles added, and bothering some Asian station at 1322, well
before RM sign-on.
RHC, 13760, with open carrier at 1319 Sept 23, and much weaker than
13680 which was modulated.
DCJC pulses at the rate of 132/minute, Sept 25 at 1311 on 9490,
jamming against nothing, since R. República uses the frequency only at 10-11
via RMI via Sackville.
RHC, 11800 is back on the air, heard Sept 25 at 2056 in Arabic //
11750 but an echo between them so from different sites, and 11800 weaker. At
2101, both now in Spanish opening Revista Iberoamericana with Siboney IS, and
now 11800 with SAH, no doubt from R. Bulgaria also in Spanish to Spain, so the
collision continues
** ECUADOR. HCJB, 11960, usual big signal Sept 24 at 1333, but no
modulation, unless that was the low roar audible during fades. Automation must
have seized up. 1336 brought up gospel rock in English, perhaps from automatic
silence-sensor; 1337 back to ``himnos de la vida cristiana`` in Spanish
sponsored by some product I missed. Is HCJB Spanish overtly commercial now?
** EGYPT. Re Sept 13 log, I meant to say half-MINUTE-late
timesignal, not half-second. Change to:
R. Cairo, English to NAm, 9280, Sept 13 at 2310 Arabic music at
fair level, but half-minute-late timesignal after 2315 led to drop in modulation
with news theme, and YL beginning newscast. Couldn`t make it out; gave up
** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. It`s back – R. Africa, 15190, Sept 25 at
2028 with open carrier, squeezed next to bigger open carrier from Greenville
15185 about to open Hausa, which started sign-on at 2029. Still no mod from E.G.
--- probably an habitual long deadair pause between programs on this
incompetently-run station. YFR via Ascension 15195 was quite weak by comparison.
Recheck at 2044, 15190 back in biz with a screaming preacher. Had been missing
the last several days
** INDIA [and non]. Monitoring 11620, Sept 25 at 2049, a bad mix of
Spanish/English, I guess a language lesson from REE, which moved here a few
months ago to avoid collision with Vatican on 11625 --- and South Asian music,
which was very fluttery. As I pointed out at the time, the QSY by REE solves
nothing, as now it collides with AIR, and the situation can only be much worse
in Eurafrica. Per Aoki, AIR GOS Bangalore from 2045 is 500 kW in English at 325
degrees. After 2057, Spain was off and only heard India on 11620
** INDONESIA. RRI Makassar, 4750, was the dominant one Sept 24 at
1258, with 4790 Fak2 hardly audible. 4750 had a string of promos in Indonesian,
1300 M&W talking with lots of Salaam-Aleikums, 1303 into Qur`an. There was a
rippling SAH from a weaker station, China or Bangladesh
** IRAN. Beautiful rendition of Qur`an, with reverb, Sept 25 at
1345 on 15150, VIRI Arabic via Sirjan, and good reception. Lasted at least until
1400; at 1420 check, nice pop string music, 1422 YL talking reverently in Arabic
** MEXICO. Whenever a bit of classical music can be pulled out of
the weak and undermodulated carrier on 6045 it is still notable as must be XEXQ,
Sept 24 at 1312, very poor
** U S A [non]. Pleased to find VOA News Now in English, M&W
alternating headlines, on a frequency where I don`t normally hear it, 9510 fair
and in the clear. A good thing too, since 9760 Philippines was mixing at about
equal level with CRI English. 9510 is Udorn, Thailand, at 12-14, 250 kW at 130
degrees, so intended for everything from SE Asia to New Zealand
** U S A. Tony Alámo confirmed on WWCR 15825, in the 13 UT hour
weekdays. Sept 25 at 1330 another low-key sermon about Job; 1354 retune, choir
singing How Great Thou Art, 1358 outro with Alamo`s Texarkana P O Box
** AUSTRALIA. 2485, VL8K, Sept 26 at 1309, presumed, with M&W
talk in English, 1310 music. Presumed, but what else could it be? PNG was in on
90m, Indonesia on 75m. Also checked 2325 and 2310 but no other NT stations
audible; there were, however, some misc. carriers which could have been
something local. Why does Katherine do so much better than the others? Is there
something about its antenna or real power which give it an advantage?
** CUBA. DentroCuban Jamming Command, 9640 with pulses against
nothing at 0537 Sept 26. This frequency is used for only two hours earlier in
the evening by R. República
** ERITREA. 8000, Sept 26 at 0540, some talk audible, poor-fair,
but can`t be sure of language or station. I can be sure it was not the
off-frequency one on 7999.4 others have reported. It was, however, very slightly
off 8000, judging from pitch of BFO when compared to WWV 5000, 10000 and RHC
6000
** INDIA. AIR trans-polar signals improved somewhat equinoxially on
31m: Sept 26 at 1350, S Asian music, but none in // on different services, via
Benguluru on 9425, 9690, 9870; also on 11585 via Delhi-Khampur
** INDONESIA. 3987, Sept 26 at 1301, weak music, and slightly on
high side. That matches the measurement by John Wilkins of reactivated RRI
Manokwari on 3987.05. Also something on 3995, another Indonesian likely
** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 3205, Sept 26 at 1302 with what sounded like a
national anthem, then open carrier so I figured R. West Sepik had signed off,
but 1304 talk resumed.
3335, best presumed PNG signal this morning, Sept 26 at 1305 with
music and English(?) talk. 3325 had some music but that could also be Indonesia,
but nothing from PNG on 3365 or 3385, so they were off?
** SINGAPORE. As I tuned across 7135, Sept 26 at 1345, music
interrupted by a 5+1 timesignal, into unID language obscured by hams more
interested in talking than listening. Per Aoki this is BBC Burmese service
opening at this hour. But why would they run a timesignal at such an odd time,
which is hourtop neither UT nor Yangon? Does Greenwich supply such non-standard
timesignals? Not expecting it, was not prepared to measure how far off it was,
but I think it was a few seconds late anyway
** U S A. 9535 with open carrier, occasional tones, Sept 26 at
1348, VOA Greenville warming up for 1400-1415 Spanish sports broadcast. If VOA
aggregated all the transmitter-hours wasted on these warmups, it could easily
add an hour or two of modulated English broadcasts in prime time to the Americas
** AFGHANISTAN [non]. With all the other good music from several
other stations [see GERMANY], it was hard to pick one to stay with but did so
with R. Solh, via UK 17700 for a while, Sept 27 1435. At 1459 faded out the
music in progress, dead air, then cut to some other music without an ID break
** ASCENSION. Pleased to hear some life seeping back into the 13m
band, Sept 27 at 1412 with BBCWS 21630, fair in Hausa, scheduled 1345-1415 only,
somewhat stronger than English on 21470. Solar flux was still only 68 as of Sept
26. Maybe the Sept 27 figure will bump up to 69, as even 70 is in the short-term
SWPC predixions
** AUSTRALIA. Northern Territory stations on 120m were all in, Sept
27 at 1258 and in //, 2485 being slightly stronger than 2310, slightly stronger
than 2325, tho all were reading about S9+10. YL was speaking English, 1259 folk
song continuing past 1300 with no break at bottom of local clock hour
** BIAFRA [non]. V. of Biafra International is back on 17650
ex-15280 which was in use July-August; Fridays only at 20-21. Sept 26 at 2055
check, just barely audible on 17650, but unmistakable ``God Bless Africa`` hymn
on authentic instrument and equally unmistakable tones of the VOBI orator
closing the transmission. This is WHRI, 250 kW at 87 degrees
** CANADA. CKZU, 6160, Vancouver, with CBC Radio Overnight, final
hour listed as R. Australia relay, Sat Sept 27 at 1250 unID show discussing
non-believers in Australia. 6160 still audible weakly at 1519 recheck.
6070 CFRX carrier also there, fading averaging S9, peaking S9+5 at
1520 Sept 27, but modulation just barely audible. What a waste. See also UNID
6070.8
** CANADA [non]. Bible readings from Exodus XXIX, in English,
pronounced slowly one word at a time, about ``I am``, bulls, rams and wafers,
Sat Sept 27 at 1505, G signal on 15390. Per Eibi this is Bible Voice via Nauen,
Germany, to S Asia, in English only on Saturdays, other days in Hindi, Tamil or
Bengali. Exodus XXIX is all about how to carry out blood sacrifices of innocent
animals, in particular what to do with their kidneys, in verses 13 and 22. Yuk.
WRTH 2008 lists this under Canada since they have a P O Box in
Toronto, while admitting it`s a joint mission with something in the UK. I say
it`s pointless to attribute multinational gospel-huxters like this to any
particular country, especially when no transmitters at all are in use from said
country
** CHINA. Firedrake, Sept 27 at 1525 on 9905, which is against R.
Free Asia, Chinese via Palau; // 9450 against Sound of Hope via Taiwan, neither
target audible
** CUBA [and non]. DentroCuban Jamming Command, 9640, pulses mixing
with weak station in Japanese, Sept 27 at 1310. That would be V. of Russia as
scheduled, via Novosibirsk or Komsomol`sk/Amure depending on which online
reference you believe. The Cuban jammer is needed on 9640 only at 0000-0200 when
R. República is on there, but why should Cuba care if they also mess up
innocent bystanders? Have heard the jammer on 9640 at various other hours, and
suspect they leave it on 24 hours, altho no doubt ramped up harder during RR
hours
** GERMANY. Since I was listening to R. Solh instead, missed
Muzprosvet, avant-garde music show from DW Russian service, Sat Sept 27 at 1430
on 15420, so finally found audio file on podcasting page http://www.dw-world.de/dw/0,2142,4356,00.html
This time about Bengali music, tho can`t tell if it is really
today`s episode; direct link:
** INDONESIA. 3995 and 3987 both in // Sept 27 at 1301, OM talking,
presumably news de Jakarta, poor. On 60m at 1306: 4750 best with Indonesian
talk, also talk on 4790, 1307 music on 4870
** IRAN [non]. Bad collision on 17755, as if there aren`t plenty of
open frequencies on this band – Sept 27 at 1414 ME pop music mixing with
Spanish producing a fast-rippling SAH, which I would estimate somewhere around
25 Hz, too fast to count but too low to be an audible heterodyne. Soon found
music // 17670 in the clear, i.e. Radio Farda, vs. REE Spain on 17755. PWBR
`2008` shows both on 17755 but no Farda on 17670, which is Wertachtal, while
17555 is Biblis. Spain aims at Africa, so theoretically no conflict. At 1430 REE
had an accurate timesignal on both 17755 and // 17595 in the clear
** JAPAN [non]. I have been abbreviating it NHKWNRJ, since I heard
them ID rather cumbersomely as ``NHK World Network, Radio Japan`` but now I hear
them ID as ``Radio Japan, NHK World Network``, so make it RJNHKWN too. Make up
their minds? Tuned in Canada relay, 11705, Sat Sept 27 at 1410 expecting to hear
``World Interactive``, but instead without explanation or apology they ran
instead ``Listening Library``, woman reading two short stories, with reverb,
piano accompaniment, the first about a woman dying and how she looked; and the
second about a character named Shotaro, pigs and a Panamá hat, moral: ``Too
much looking at women is not good``, attributed to ``Ten Nights of Dreams``.
1429 ended just in time to hear regular RJ outro, as always cutting to RCI IS
and ID before the announcer could finish saying what frequency the next English
broadcast at 2200 would be on.
So what has become of World Interactive, the mailbag/listener
participation show?? Answer: http://www.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/radio/program/index.html
--- W. I. Is replaced by this on the last Saturday of the month, even if there
are only four: ``Monthly readings bring to life decades old stories, shedding
new light on masterpieces that have sparked the imagination of young and old for
generations.`` No Yamata pre-echo today, but lite Saturday-only QRM de RSA at
1426
** LIBYA. V. of Africa, 17725, Sept 27 at 1500 addressing ``Dear
Listeners`` in English; poor. Aimed due south from Sabrata, so unfavorable for
here
** NEW ZEALAND. RNZI 60th anniversary special encountered UT Sat
Sept 27 at 0610 on 9615, NOT a time given in advance publicity, quoted in DXLD
8-105, which said:
``The 60th ANNIVERSARY MAILBOX SPECIAL BROADCAST TIMES ARE AS
FOLLOWS:
SAT 27 SEP
Sat 0020 NZDT 2320 UT (Fri) FULL VERSION
Sat 1806 NZDT 0506 UT (Sat) FULL VERSION``
The trouble is, NZ was not yet on UT +13, so the time conversion
was wrong, really 0606 UT! Anyhow, I`ll hear it ondemand sometime rather than
try to compensate for their erroneous publicity, figuring out what they really
meant to say. It seems that RNZI, supposedly an external service, operates on
local time, whatever it is, rather than UT which never changes. David Ricquish
was pronouncing RNZI as ``Renzy``
** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 90m scan Sept 27 at 1303 found: 3205 with
talk, 3235 music, 3325 something, 3335 music, 3345 something, 3365 no signal,
3385 talk
** ROMANIA. 11945, Arabic talk at 1407 Sept 27 about Romania,
Bucharest, names ending in -escu and Romanian clips for voice-over. What could
it be? RRI, off the back! As scheduled in Arabic this hour from Tiganesti but
presumably currently Galbeni instead, good modulation
** SAUDI ARABIA [and non]. R. Riyadh, 17660, Sept 27 at 1417 with
dramatic M&W dialog in French, some distortion, SFX, recorded on stage? 1500
drums and French announcements.
13710, Sept 27 at 1515 with Qur`an and then regular Arabic talk,
muffled modulation, not // 15435/15225, tho 13710 is also Riyadh, a different
program.
15225, Sept 27 at 1513 Qur`an, but SAH of about 4 Hz mixing with YL
talk in S Asian language, soon IDed in passing at 1514 as ``Adventist World
Radio``. Per EiBi, this is Punjabi via Wertachtal. Adventists vs Allah!
** SUDAN [non]. Sept 27 at 1507 came upon 15650 with some very
distorted talk I eventually recognized as English with a heavy African accent;
long pauses, mentioned National Democratic Institute, with SFX between items,
more pauses. 1509 into some other language, apparently ID, mentioning FM, SW and
kHz, ``Miraya FM``, and then mostly in non-English until 1511 tune-out. This is
the relay via IRRS ``Milan``, i.e. Slovakia, 150 kW at 160 degrees. Also had a
lite warbling het which I at first thought might be a jammer, and then thought
might be out of some local household device such as TV set turned off but not
unplugged
** TURKEY. Big open carrier on 11680 gave me pause, Sept 27 at 1317
covering up some Mideastern music. Probably Cuba which uses it later in day for
Venezuela, RHC. Fortunately, that went off a semi-minute later uncovering the
music, soprano accompanied by mugam-like instrument; 1335 into talk, sounds like
Turkish. Is PWBR `2008` any help? Of course not --- nothing at all shown on
11680 during this hour, except Korea North, which this certainly was not, nor
was that audible today anywhere around 11677v. More nice ME music, including at
1355 children`s choir with piano accompaniment in medley including prettified
version of La Cucaracha, almost making it into a round. 1400 accurate 3-pip
timesignal and Turkish news by YL mentioning Adana. As A-08 online skeds easily
confirm, this is TRT Emirler, 500 kW at 310 degrees, 1300-1530
** U K [non]. Surprised to encounter excited coverage in English of
silly ballgame frequently mentioning Chelsea, Sat Sept 27 at 1525 on 7380,
confirmed as BBCWS by // 9740 but echoing slightly out of synch via Singapore.
Also surprised to find 7380 listed as Meyerton, South Africa site at 5 degrees;
despite unfavourable azimuth, most likely long path at this hour. This
transmission goes into Swahili at 1530, except on Saturdays, in English until
1700
** U S A [and non]. First presidential debate, 0100 UT Saturday
Sept 27: Maybe we can expect some secret extra SW frequencies, as appeared for
VOA coverage of the Democratic and Republican Cons a month ago, including from
African sites, 6080, 9885, 12080, 15580?
Scanned bands from 16 to 90 meters between 0136 and 0146 UT.
Computers and TVs were necessarily on obscuring weaker signals. Did find live
debate broadcast weakly // TV but never exactly synchronized on 15595,
presumably VOA, site unlisted and normally not scheduled. Very good on 9820 and
6040 which are Greenville normally only at 0130-0200 with Spe-cial Eng-lish.
While I was at it, I checked private US SW station frequencies
which are on the air in English at this time, and found them all in normal
programming, mostly gospel huxters: 11520, 9505, 7465, 7415, 6985, 6890, 5935,
5920, 5875, 5850, 5745, 5070, 5050, 3185. Whatever became of the concept of
public service broadcasting, pre-empting regular programming if necessary on
such rare special occasions?
Next check at 0220: both 6040 and 9820 were off. VOA must have only
run them during their normal spans, i.e. cutting off the debate right in the
middle at 0200! 15595, whencever it was, faded out before 0200. Still no private
US SW frequencies with it at 0220 either
** U S A [non]. VOA Special English, business dialog lessons with
terms about finding a job, such as networking, resume; interrupted by tone cues
and music riffs, Sept 27 at 1523 on 9695, which is Tinang, Philippines at 349
degrees
** AUSTRALIA. 2485, VL8K, best heard yet with armchair copy, Sept
28 at 1252 with religious discussion, much like on RA but not // 9580. Could be
same show from so-called ABC Local Radio, but half an hour offset. // 2325 VL8A
was much weaker this time, and // 2310 VL8T even weaker. Recheck 1321, half a
sesquihour after local sunrise, still just barely audible on 2485 with talk. I
wonder if any Aussie signals would have been coming thru too on the upper MWBC
band if not blocked
** INDIA. AIR GOS, 9690, audible again Sept 28 after long absence,
1330 OM signing on, giving this and 11620, 13710, into YL news in less than a
minute, 1340 ending news bulletin, ID, Today`s Commentary. Then checked 13710
and heard something else with music; CRI in French via Kashi is scheduled. And
nothing on 11620. see also UNIDENTIFIED 4940, 5050
** INDONESIA. Trans-Pacific conditions were hot on Sept 28, so I
kept tuning around, unable to land on any one frequency long enough to get much
detail, but I`m not trying to QSL them, anyway ---
3325, 1258 talk, then music. 1304 music. Could be PNG here, not
certain
3987, 1255 talk; 1305 Indo talk // 3995; 1323 hams relented a bit,
music sounds similar to 3995, but not //; 1325 definitely different music
3995, 1255 music; 1305 Indo talk // 3987; 1323 similar music to
3987 but not same; 1325 ham net starts up on 3995 with this as BFO
4605, 1314 music, very weak, but evidence Serui is still on the air
4790, 1310 mix CODAR, music, then YL mentioning FM, kHz; somewhat
better than 4750 which also had CCI. 1312 YL vocal on 4790, no more Qur`an;
takes Sundays off? Ramadan not quite over
** IRAN. VIRI, 15150 wonderful muezzin reciting Qur`an, Sept 28 at
1345, still going at 1412. Such a talented singer: I wonder if he is famous in
Iran and even has a fan club, or would this be unseemly? Would he also sing
secular songs, or would that be unseemly? I wonder about this, since as an
Infidel without the baggage of belief, I can appreciate his performance solely
as Art. Note that some of our greatest singers started out as cantors
** NEW ZEALAND. Scheduling foulup again at RNZI, for Sept 28 at
1248, 6170 was already on, while 9655 bore nothing but the open carrier from RNW
via Tinang prior to 1300 modulation, while RNZI 6170 is not supposed to open
until 1259; W&M discussing sexism in the Maori language. Could be everything
is an hour off due to DST which just started 23 hours earlier, and failing to
compensate for that
** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. Quick chex of PNG frequencies Sept 28 found:
3205, 1259 talk, sounds like Tok Pisin; 1300 choral music with
pauses, anthem? 1302 open carrier, but not signed off; 1304 music resumed
3235, 1258 music, 1304 choral music
3335, 1257 music, 1300 YL announcement; 1303 open carrier
3345, 1257 carrier and something, 1303 talk
3385, 1256 music, 1300 announcement by YL, 1303 music
3905, 1256 music
** AUSTRALIA. Another morning, another check of 120m NT VL8
stations, Sept 29 at 1248: W&M discussion show in //, 2485 best, then 2310,
then 2325
** CUBA. Almost two weeks after it first appeared on RHC`s online
transmission schedule, 13680 was finally on the air for the 2030 UT English
broadcast, Sept 28 at 2103 tune-in; same interview with Lucius Walker, American
Cubasymp, as on 11760, but not exactly synchronized. I focused on a key word and
eventually determined that 13680 was playing the same program 3 minutes and 9
seconds after 11760!
Also, the audio on 13680 sounds very different, clipped as if it
has gone a long way through some circuits to another transmitter site. Could it
possibly be a new overseas relay of RHC? Or just two different sites in Cuba,
evidently from two different very unsynchronized playbacks.
At 2127, 11760 was going into French ID, while 13680 still had
Arnie Coro giving e-mail address for plans of a solar water heater(?). The same
appeared 3+ minutes later on 13680, then IS and French ID, or rather it`s the
Kriyol service as the following announcement clarified. One is on the schedule
for 2130, but not on either frequency! Meanwhile, RHC Spanish was on 13760, MUCH
stronger than 13680, and // 11750. The schedule does show 13680 also for French
French at 2200, but unchecked
** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. RNGE, 6250, back on the air, as who else
would be playing hilife music on this frequency, Sept 29 at 0540, probably
shortly after sign-on. No 6300 Sahara audible yet
** INDONESIA. The 75-m trio were all audible Sept 29 at 1254: 3976
with Indonesian talk by YL; not // something on 3987, 3995. Ham QRM worse the
further into ``80m``, such that at 1256, 3995 was QRM-free.
On 60m, 4790 was back to Qur`aning at 1302; 4750 a YL song rather
than news/talk
** JAPAN. At 1257 check Sunday Sept 28, R. Nikkei was missing from
JOZ 3925, but back on with synthesized classical music Sept 29 at 1251 check.
Yes, per WRTH 2008, 3925/6055/9595 sign off early at 1200* on Sundays, otherwise
to 1330* except Fridays to 1430*
** KOREA NORTH [and non]. 3912 is usually too blocked by SSB hams,
but Sept 29 at 1259 I was able to make out some music accompanied by jamming,
i.e. V. of the People from South to North, and deliberate interference from
North to North, both reaching here to what the Koreans could justifiably refer
to as the ``Far East``
** MYANMAR. 9731, putting a weak het on CRI 9730, Sept 29 at 1324.
This is about the most I can ever expect to hear from Myanma Radio. Doesn`t CRI
occupy enough frequencies so they could dispense with just one to accommodate a
friendly neighbor? Of course not!
** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. An American-accented OM talking caught my ear
on 3385, Sept 29 at 1246, but quickly back to YL with less comprehensible PNG
accent. At first I thought it might be a mixing product. This was the best
signal of the usual crew on 90m
** U S A [non]. 12110, Sept 29 at 1335 in unID language, but brief
English clip voiced-over at 1338; Aoki says it`s VOA in Somali via Lampertheim
at 13-14; and it occupies a 2-hour hole between two Tagalog broadcasts from CRI
via Kunming, a fine example of coöperation and coördination
** ALBANIA [and non]. R. Tirana, 13640 to NAm, 1431 sign-on with
English schedule, 1432 news, but too undermodulated to follow, and adjacent QRM
from much better modulated 13645 in Slavo-Turkic language, i.e. per Aoki, Uzbek,
R. Liberty, 100 kW at 80 degrees via Lampertheim, Germany at 14-15
** CHINA. As if CRI were not causing enough interference already to
other broadcasters by excessive frequency usage, another hour in English has
been added on 9560, Sept 30 at 1311, news item about water on Mars, colliding
with R. Australia which has been on this frequency for ages, also in English
until 1400. Until now, CRI had waited until 1400 to start its English on 9560
via Kashi. Usage before 1400 must have just started, as not noted before in
morningly bandscans, and not yet in any of the online schedules
** COSTA RICA. REE Cariari, 3350, Sept 30 at 0556 check past 0558
was mixing the REE IS with regular programming which also included some music,
until both went off at 0600. Is no one paying attention?
** CUBA [and non]. Another check of the RHC 13680 situation, Sept
29 at 2125 found it in music, presumably ending the English hour, and this time
// 11760 seeming synchronized to within a reverb rather than 3 minutes and 9
seconds apart as the day before. At 2128 on 13680, the music cut off, carrier
remained, and the music continued on 11760. About 2129:45 modulation on 13680
resumed in time for IS, again // 11760, opening Kriyol, but just after 2132,
13680 lost modulation again, carrier stayed on until 2142:30*
At 2134, 11760 dropped off the air for a couple seconds, then right back.
I left the BFO on tuned 1 kHz away to notify me if and when 13680
came back on for scheduled RHC English at 2200. This happened at *2147:25, but I
did not listen closely until 2202 and what did I hear? Japanese! NHK is also
scheduled here from *2000 per PWBR ``2008`` but that is wrong; as in Aoki really
starts at *2200 at 240 degrees for S Asia, ergo 60 degrees off the back toward
us.
I think RHC was underneath in French, so I don`t know which one
turned on carrier at 2147:25. Evidently the Kriyol heard after 2130 on 13680
Sept 28 and 29 was just runover from the previous scheduled English hour. So
sloppy. After 2300, 13680 from Cuba was at usual big level for Venezuela relay,
blowing Japan away.
Sept 30 at 1340 found big open carrier on 15370, as RHC was
transmitting, but without any modulation, altho from other site 15360 and 15120
were OK. Wiggle that patchcord! Monitor your own signals off the air for
discrepancies! This continued to be the case at further chex as late as 1444,
but at 1401 YFR theme could be heard clearly underneath, then S Asian language,
which Eibi and Aoki say is Telugu via Wertachtal, but via Nauen per Sept M&B
sked update, still at 1429.
9955, DentroCuban Jamming Command mixing with R. Prague in English
via WRMI, Sept 30 at 1416. The jamming was still there but reduced from the full
force employed before 1400 against R. Cuba Libre
** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 15190, R. Africa, still sounds like Tony
Alamo, talking about victory, over his current travail? Over/under WYFR
Portuguese at 2216 Sept 29
** GUATEMALA. R. Verdad still missing from 4052.5 at 0546 check
Sept 30, following a lightning strike earlier in Sept, the date of which I have
been unable to determine. Cannot find anything about this situation on the
website, but checking their News page, I see that Dr. Madrid had another setback
earlier this year when an arch he built was torn down, illustrated: http://www.radioverdad.org/noticias.html
Since RV has been such a friend to DXers, perhaps someone with
technical knowledge or access to parts can help get them back on the air
** PALAU. ``KHBN``, 9965 at 1417 Sept 30 with instrumental
inspirational music, the station now scheduled here, and same music also audible
on a carrier at 9995. I suspect the latter was a receiver-produced leapfrog over
supersignal from WWCR 9980, 15 kHz apart, as no station should be overtly on
9995, too close to WWV. However, WWV is blasted away most of the day here by
another Coloradan, Pastor Pete Peters, who fancies himself a singer, on WWCR, 20
kHz away, not far enough, splattering and de-sensitizing
** PHILIIPPINES. VOA English news at 1441 Sept 30 poor on 7430,
soon confirmed by // 9760; 7430 is Tinang due west
** ROMANIA. Tuned in 7185, Sept 29 at 2222 to hear sports roundup,
so figured it was VOA, which runs sports around this minute in News Now --- but
they kept referring to Romanian names and ``nils``. Yes, RRI, no doubt one of
the new Galbeni 300 kW Continentals. 2225 beep, busy-music and into Network
Europe for the next semihour, with stories about far-right getting 29% of the
vote in Austria as protest to the two major parties; Belgium where illegal
immigrants are on hunger strike; France following some American trend; show is
``in the Euronet partnership``. Good signal, very good modulation and SSB hams
stayed away from it, tnx very much. 2255 sign-off mentioned only one frequency
each, coming up on the 0000 and 0530 English broadcasts to North America and
Europe respectively
** RUSSIA. 13855 at 1433 Sept 30, Russian folksong with a
Hebrew-sound to it so first guessed Israel, but 1433 R. Rossii ID, not // 15430.
Some distortion. No sign of Israel really scheduled in Persian on 13850; guess
they were taking the day off
** SAUDI ARABIA. 17895 with Qur`an, Sept 30 at 1406, lite reverb
unlike heavier reverb via Iran, and this singer not as impressive as the 15150
one which was inaudible today. No // to 17895 found on 17 or 15 MHz bands. 1419
recheck, in non-musical talk on 17895. This is the Holy Qur`an service at 12-15
from Riyadh, 500 kW at 290 degrees
** U S A. Tony Alamo on WWCR, 15825, Sept 30 at 1326, poor
reception in mostly-skip-zone, but was able to make out that he was interviewing
females with leading questions about his alleged crimes, and they assured us
they were unmolested. So he has been able to produce new programs since the law
went after him. Also fan mail from Natasha, a non-Russian listener via R. East
Africa. See also PALAU
** U S A. WEWN, 11550 in Spanish, VG at 1412 Sept 30, barely
perceptible whine. That reminds me have, not heard lately the annoying squeals
which used to infest at least one of their transmitters on various frequencies,
so maybe the defective modulation modules have finally been replaced?
** VATICAN. Surprised to hear VR IS on 7335 mixing with CHU, Sept
29 at 2229, 2230 opening English I think, but talk was undermodulated compared
to IS. VR is NOT scheduled on 7335 at this hour per any of the online
references, just at 0025-0520. Another screwup of their automation programming,
or deliberate change in anticipation of CHU`s QSY to 7850?
9/4
As
I type these golden words at 9:05 pm Central/0205 UTC, I'm hearing CFRX at a
fair level usually atop CVC. The het/drone makes for tiring listening, but it's
almost 100% copy. Welcome back to an old friend!!
9/8
I'm still hearing Rebelde-5025 barely above the noise level as I
write this. I noted the major Cuban networks----Rebelde, Progreso, etc.----all
seemed to be carrying their own hurricane programming last night (complete with
cheesy "howling wind" sound effects in the background of some
announcements) instead of carrying a common program. It will be interesting to
see which outlets are still on the air this evening.
You have to feel for the people of Cuba; they are taking a real
pounding right now. And the latest path projections for the
Galveston/Beaumont/Port Arthur areas of Texas aren't looking favorable.
9/10
6185 MEXICO Radio Educación, was
wake this morning and checked this frequency 1005-1120 UTC and found no
trace of this station or my unID station reported
last month;just a weak "flutter" on the channel that never produced
audio.
I'm listening to CFRX right now on the Collins R-390A.
Pretty weak signal, with what sounds like a 200 Hz or so het - a drone.
Good timing too, for folks in the USA interested as to what is
going on in Canada - given that an October election is about to be called.
September 2, 2008
Radio Sweden International 6010 KHz 02:40-03:03 UTC
September 2, 2008 02:00-02:30 RTI (Radio Taiwan International) 5950
KHz
Heard on a Sony ICF 2010 and Eton AN-03 wind 'em up antenna:
6069.7 CFRX Toronto, ON 0000 9/5 with ID and ad for the Chris
Robinson Travel Show at www.cfrb.com . Was
interference with SS station presumed to be CVC. Nasty growl due to being
slightly off frequency. Very nice to hear in Tennessee. Now I can get Canadian
news
no problem. Hooray!
Saturday. 9/27 -- 0100 to 0130 UTC
6080 Presumed VOA. The debates were weak, just above the noise
floor. Audio || to the TV coverage
9845 Radio Nederland in English, strong signal
9885 Nice romantic music, strong, sign off with VOA ID at 0130.
Heard snatches of the debates after 0130, like they were trying to make a
hookup, but not quite able to.
12080 Only noise
15580 Only noise
Kevin Redding – Adamsville, TN
Kenwood R-1000 and 200 foot wire
Heard on a Kenwood R-1000 and 200 foot wire while
giving mosquitoes
my blood out on the front porch...
All heard between 1830 and 1900 9/1/08:
206 GLS Galveston, TX
211 UC Union City, TN
224 BH Birmingham, AL
Chris Black – Cape Cod, MA
Icom 756 PRO II, Icom R-75, SDR-IQ Barker & Williamson BWD-90 folded dipole
35 x 90 flag loop E/W / DXP-3 phaser 300' long wire
153
ALGERIA Alger Chaîne 1, Béchar SEP 09 2305
- // 549 Man in Arabic - Good
162 FRANCE France-Inter, Allouis
SEP 02 2333 - Guitar vocal with man announcer in FF - Good
183 GERMANY Europe 1, Felsberg
(Saarlouis) SEP 09 2257 - Woman in French - Good
234 LUXEMBOURG RTL, Beidweiler
SEP 09 2258 - Rock music - Good
162
FRANCE France-Inter, Allouis SEP 12 2315 -
Two men and woman, sounded like poss radio drama - Good
171 MOROCCO Radio Méditerranée Int'l,
Nador SEP 12 2320 - //9575 Mid East music then man in Arabic then chanting
- Good
189 ICELAND Rikisútvarpid Rás 1+2,
Gufuskálar SEP 12 2340 - Man and Woman in discussion - Fair
252 IRELAND RTE Radio 1, Clarkestown
SEP 12 2345 - Rock music-Van Morrison then announcer in Irish accent - Very good
189
ICELAND Rikisútvarpid Rás 1+2, Gufuskálar
SEP 28 2249 - Male pop singer - Very good
252 ALGERIA Alger Chaine 1&3/Radio
Alger Int, Tipaza SEP 28 2256 - Woman in FF, then mid east music. TOH pips
then woman with news in FF - 2307 mixing with Ireland, "Raindrops are
falling on my head" - Very Good
9/12
206 GLS Galveston, TX, checked this beacon at 0205 UTC/9:05 pm
Central and found only a single repeating "beep" tone at a good level.
At 0206/9:06 pm, it suddenly vanished and is still off the air as I write this.
9/14
Beacon
GLS, 206 kHz, in Galveston is back on and putting a good signal into here at
9:21 pm Central.
We have one lonely posting this month with some information on Net radio legislation. Thanks to Kevin.
Kevin Redding – Cosmic Crump, TN, Center of the Known Universe
Net radio bill passes House
Sun Sep 28, 2008 5:39 am (PDT)
September 27, 2008 6:10 PM PDT
Net radio bill passes House
Posted by Greg Sandoval
Update at 7:28 p.m. PDT: Quotes have been added from the National Association of
Broadcasters on why it no longer opposes the bill.
Web radio stations live to fight another day.
The House of Representatives has unanimously passed a bill that Web radio
stations have painted as life or death for their services.
The Webcaster Settlement Act, which would allow Internet radio stations to
negotiate with the music industry for a royalty rate lower than what Congress
mandated last year, passed the House by a voice vote on Saturday.
Proponents of the bill had predicted a close vote.
Tim Westergren, founder of Net music service Pandora, said he was elated about
triumphing in the House, which came after traditional radio broadcasters
withdrew their opposition.
Dennis Wharton, a spokesman for the National Association of Broadcasters, said
Saturday night that Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.) had met with representatives
of the group and addressed some of their concerns.
As a result, the NAB dropped its opposition in the House and will not oppose the
bill when it moves to the Senate for a vote, either Sunday or Monday (I've
written a story about the bill's chances in the Senate and how the NAB was
persuaded to drop it's opposition).
"The bill having passed unanimously in the House certainly gives it
momentum heading into the Senate," Wharton said.
Webcasters are fighting for the right to negotiate with the music industry to
reduce the royalty rates they must pay to stream music over the Web. Any deal
must be approved by the federal government.
Congress is expected to adjourn on Monday, and the Webcaster Settlement Act
enables Internet radio stations to reach an agreement with the music industry
while Congress is out of session.
Westergren, who has emerged as a de facto spokesman for the bill, said some Web
radio stations can't afford a long delay in the talks. Right now, the law
requires them to pay the older royalty rate, which Webcasters say will soon
drive them out of business.
"It would be a killer blow," Westergren said. "If we don't get it
passed now, it would mean waiting for a whole new Congress and administration
and lots of uncertainty."
As for the legislation's chances in the Senate, Westergren said he's cautiously
optimistic.
"I've become gun shy because I've been burned so many times before,"
he said. "We're waiting to see what happens and consulting with our friends
(in Congress)."
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10052966-93.html
And that’s another month on the Net.
73’s, Martin
Heard on an Eton E-1 on the whip:
98.7 WHOP Hopkinsville, KY 9/3 1215 Lite 98.7 Ft. Campbell, KY ads
and light rock. Tr. 167 mi.
Heard on a DX398 on the whip.
99.1 WAHR Huntsville, AL 9/3 1245 with RDS "Movin'Azz".
Tr 129 mi.
Heard on an Eton E-1 and whip:
104.7 WZZK Birmingham, AL 9/4 1118 long stopset with Rick and Bubba
ad and then ID. 170 mi. Tr
9/12
Very strange FM dial tonight.
I am getting OCs on the frequencies normally occupied by Houston
stations KILT-100.3, KPTY-104.9, KMKS-102.5, and KBXX-97.9. I guess this means
their studio to transmitter links must be down.
KLOL-101.1 is missing, but so is KONO-101.1 in San Antonio, so
perhaps there is some disrupted path due to Ike's impact on the troposphere.
Last
weekend I spent a few hours scanning the FM band with my Sony XDR-F1HD. I was
mostly interested in making note of which frequencies I could hear something on,
not so much in IDing all the stations. There are a lot of UNIDs in this log.
Quite a few of them are technically "presumed" IDs based on signal
strength, format, locations mentioned, etc.
The
antenna used was the simple wire dipole included with the radio. I built a T
stand out of PVC pipe so the antenna is fully stretched out and maybe seven feet
above the floor. The stand is all slip-fit so I can rotate the T by hand. The
rig was sitting in my living room.
I
was quite amazed at the number of stations I was able to hear. Part of it is my
location -- right in the middle of a very flat state, with major metro areas at
different points on the compass, all within at least very fringe reception
distances -- but a lot of it is the Sony XDR-F1HD. This is an exceptional FM
radio.
The
one reception that really surprised me was WYNR from Waycross, GA. I did get a
positive ID on that one.
Log
follows.
8/9
Date
Time Frequency Call Sign Location
Comments
16:20
88.3MHz WPOZ-HD1
Christian rock
16:20
88.3MHz WPOZ-HD2
Christian R&B "Y hot"
16:20
88.3MHz WPOZ-HD3
Christian hard rock
16:23
88.7MHz WMYZp
Christian rock
16:24
88.9MHz
Christian contemporary (distant)
16:25
89.1MHz
SS R&B (local)
16:26
89.3MHz
Christian contemporary (marginal)
16:28
89.5MHz
Gospel (distant, fading in/out)
16:29
89.7MHz
OM talking about girl showing skin
16:30
89.7MHz
Classical
16:31
89.9MHz WUCF
Jazz (HD won't lock despite strong signal)
16:31
89.9MHz WUCF-HD2
No lock, though radio recognizes it's there
16:34
90.1MHz
Talk about concert in Gainesville, but no station on this freq there
16:35
90.3MHz
Christian (strong)
16:36
90.7MHz WMFE-HD
Classical
16:37
91.1MHz WKES
Christian contemporary
16:38
91.3MHz
Rock, "No More Words" (fairly strong)
16:39 91.3MHz Folk/country. Very weak in null of rock station