December 2007 ABDX Journal
Vol 2. Issue 12
Editors Corner:
ABDX membership is still on the march with several DXers joining. ABDX Nation is now 175 members. We anxiously look forward to see loggings from our newest members. Your logs are what make ABDX a healthy and active list. We thank all of you who have contributed your logs to this months Journal
ABDX is STILL looking for those who would
like to edit a section or send in a story for publication in the Journal. If you
are interested, email listowner@americanbroadcastdx.com
. I can only offer those who contribute by editing, free membership and
accolades. Of course membership is free for all but the accolades are what makes
the pay worth it all. Join Jay Heyl, Martin Foltz and me in producing the
Journal!
In this vein of thinking, the
illustrious Harry Helms has submitted another great article for this month, I
think all of you will enjoy it, I know I did.
This months article deals with the pirate station, Voice of the Voyager.
Take a ride with Harry on the pirate ship, VOV!
Decembers CME was for tube radio logs.
We got a few this month even though tube radios are as hard to find as a green
Apatosaurus like the ones you can find on the Sinclair Gas station signs.
Christmas came and some of us got some
real nice toys under the tree. Santa brought us everything from little mighty
mite radios to more substantial Eton E-1s. That will be for you to tell us all
about next month in the New Toys section of the Journal. There some new toy
reviews for your perusal in this months Journal. Many are on “mighty mite”
ultralight radios.
We enjoy seeing our members who have made it to the “Hall of
Fame” for those of us with faces for radio! If you are a member and want to be
in the Rogues Gallery, send your pix to webmaster@americanbroadcastdx.com.
Only submissions from ABDX members will be accepted unless the editor decides the information is so important that it should be added. This will probably be very rare, Should you receive this and you are not a member, go to this URL and tell us a little about yourself and we will consider you for membership.
This is the site to join ABDX.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ABDX/
The ABDX website URL is:
www.americanbroadcastdx.com
or
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
The December CME Announcement
ABDX presents the December "Heat up the house with DX"
CME.
Every year in the cold and frigid month of December we always run
something that will warm your heart if not your house. Forget stringing up
lights outdoors and running up your electric bill and not getting any DX for
your money. ABDX wants you to go into the garage or closet and get out that old
tube radio and fire that one up. You will get to heat your house, light it up
with that beautiful
orange firebottle glow and get DX all at the same time.
Find that old 5 tube radio, Hallicrafters, Hammarlund, Zenith
Transoceanic, R390, big old console or even 6 tube job, blow off
the
dust and see what you can hear. At the very least, you will get
some
nice warm and mellow sounds to listen to while spinning the dials.
Christmas music is in the air and if you hear it, log it and send
it
along! For the Jewish on the list, if you hear Channukah music, we
will be glad to take those logs as well. Let us know what you are
hearing for holiday music.
We at ABDX really LOVE HF [SW] and LF [LW]. This is the time of
year
when you hear LF [LW] beacons from Europe and Asia with
BROADCASTING
on it and also many beacons from far away.
For HF [SW] Glenn Hauser has always given us many HF tips and a
great
site on line, the Aoki site from Japan, and its even in English.
Here's the URL http://www.geocities.jp/binewsjp/bib07.txt
its a
tremendous help to people like me who are still unfamiliar with the
world of HF. Remember, send HF logs in UTC. You can find UTC time
by
tuning WWV on 2.5, 5, 10 or 15 MHz.
FM and TV DXers, take heart! This is the time of year for the
December/January mini E skip season that will make stations heard
to
you at up to 1500 miles away on a single hop so there is something
for everyone.
The January CME Announcement
By popular demand we bring you the January CME [Coordinated
Monitoring Event]. The January CME will accept any log from any radio on any
broadcast frequency but the main thrust is on small mighty-mite receivers.
This CME is DX using any small radio that is a mighty mite. A
mighty mite is consumer radio and not specifically made for DX and the size of a
pack of cigarettes more or less, absolutely unaided in any way such as the
SRF-42, SRF 59, a Zenith Royal 20, DT200V,
SRF-M35V, Grundig Mini 300, SRF-A1, DT300VX, SRF-MK10, SRF-M85V, Grundig
mini100PE, even an RCA 2.5" pocket TV can be used and other units the likes
of those mentioned. The mighty mite can have a speaker or headphones, it doesn't
matter. It just should be able to fit in a shirt pocket.
These mighty-might logs can be on any band, LW/AM/FM/HF/WX/TV but
there MUST NOT be any external antenna used with these radios for
this CME and IT MUST FIT IN A COMMON SHIRT POCKET. These mighty-mites used for
this CME MUST BE run on battery power only.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is your chance to DX as you did some
years ago before we all got the high dollar ultrasensitive radios we all enjoy
the other 11 months of the year. There will be a separate set of logs for these
radios prominently exposed at the beginning of the January edition of the ABDX
Journal.
Let us all see what we can do
with little firebreathing DX eating mighty mites. I am sure we will all be
surprised at what we all can hear. What
are you hearing?
Kevin Redding, Phil Rafuse, Powell Way, Mike Richard, Jay Heyl and Martin Foltz the ABDX crew.
The Broadcast Band
Peter Jernakoff –Wilmington,
DE
SDR-IQ and antenna
First new one with my new SDR-IQ. I cast a DX drift net (I love the
term;
whoever came up with it needs to be commended) from 800 khz. to 980
khz.
across this past midnight and came away with a new one:
19-Dec-07 // 0000 local // 910 khz. // WABI // 5 kw // Bangor, ME
// Female
with "This is AM 910, WABI, Bangor." // New. A 496 mile
catch.
MP3 clip available here:
http://www.21centimeter.com/21centimeter/Recordings/910-khz_0000-Local_12-19-07_WABI_Bangor_ME.mp3
And, for whatever it’s worth, here’s a screen capture of
WILM’s (1450 khz.;
Wilmington, DE) IBOC signal from last evening:
http://www.21centimeter.com/21centimeter/images/1450-khz_WILM_Wilmington_DE_IBOC.jpg
The interference to the first adjacent frequencies can be clearly
seen.
19-Dec-07 // 1330 khz. // 1700 local // WBHV // 5 kw // Somerset,
PA // Male with "For the best in sports news, sports talk, sports coverage
and
everything sports, WPRR-Johnstown, WBHV-Somerset, ESPN 1490 and
1330." //New. A 183 mile catch.
MP3 clip available here:
19-Dec-07 // 1410 khz. // 1700 local // WELM // 5 kw // Elmira, NY
// Male
with "1410 WELM, Elmira-Corning." // New. A 175 mile
catch.
MP3 clip available here:
http://www.21centimeter.com/21centimeter/Recordings/1410-khz_1700-Local_12-19-07_WELM_Elmira_NY.mp3
19-Dec-07 // 1800 local // 1310 khz. // WTTL // 1.5 kw day //
Madisonville,
KY // GY-like jumble then quick, faint ID by male: "...1310,
WTTL,
Madisonville." // New. A 662 mile catch. Presumably still on
the 'big rig'.
I'm pleased with this one!!
MP3 clip available here:
19-Dec-07 // 1958 local // 1610 khz. // CHHA // Presumably 1 kw
night pwr
// Toronto, ON // Spanish talk then male with "Esta es
C-H-H-A, Radio Voces
Latinas". // New. A 330 mile catch.
MP3 clip available here:
http://21centimeter.com/21centimeter/Recordings/1610-khz_1958-Local_12-19-07_CHHA_Toronto_ON.mp3
19-Dec-07 // 2001 local // 1480 khz. // WPWC // Presumably 0.5 kw
night pwr
// Dumfries-Triangle, VA // Spanish talk then male with "WPWC,Dumfries-Washington".
// New. A fairly close 121 mile catch.
MP3 clip available here:
John Cereghin – Smyrna, DE
Receiver, Antenna
KRMG, 740, Tulsa OK, 2230 Eastern on Dec 7, with Tulsa ad string
and ID, very good in CHWO null, best heard in a while
WLIJ, 1580, Shelbyville TN, 0705 Eastern on Dec 7, a surprise, with
brief ID and weather, "It's XX degrees at Radio Park" (I missed the
exact temperature!) by man with typical Tennessee-style southern accent, then
fade out, had them for about a minute.
12/21
Got one of my "most wanted" this morning- 590 WMBS,
Uniontown, PA 0710 Eastern, morning sports report on Pitt Panthers college
basketball and Pittsburgh Penguins NHL scores, several mentions of Uniontown and
WMBS, local QRM at 0715 wiped them out. WARM
in Scranton usually dominates here but no sign of them this morning.
Receiver, Antenna
Today
I listened to XESDD-1030 and while looking up information on the Internet I ran
across the ACIR website. On it I found information on XEEBC-730 Ensenada that
solved a tentative for me. I hear a Spanish station on 730 but I'm having
trouble understanding the slogan. This solved the issue. Their slogan in La
Co Madre. There's more to it but I can't get the rest. One word sounds like
Exitos and one sounds like Amor. Previous slogan was Inolvidable and I remember
that from my last trip to Ensenada.
730
XEEBC Ensenada, BCA 12/29 7:30 PM PST in fair-poor with KCBS
slop, music program, La Co Madre slogan. I think KCBS is running IBOC.
#350 heard and XE #50, both goals
I set to achieve. Good way to end the year.
Alan Schreier – Austin, TX
FT1000MP, 30” Box loop
outside voltage probe active antenna
12/2
This
is a good tip from James Niven. I also don’t know when they changed this
time, but they have come full circle back to an oldies format I like; guess that
dates me. They are running the same oldies format as they did in June 2001
as KQXX, “Goodtime Oldies For The Valley”. They were essentially on a
clear channel in 2001, no competition from KKLF, and put a good signal
into this area.
Their TOH is “We Are Oldies
Radio 1700 KVNS Brownsville and The Rio Grande Valley”. During the hour
they have numerous variations of the slogan “Classis R&R from the 60s and
70s” including a little “Classic Christmas Music” mixed in with the
R&R.
12/9
Sunday morning, 7:22 a.m.
KOA Denver in nicely during WEEI fade, with ad for a gourmet
chocolate
company and a 303-area code phone number.
This received on my Sony 7600GR, in the kitchen, barefoot, without
even the
Radiio Shack loop nearby.
Also checked 660 for any sign of KTNN, but nada.
Also nothing on other good
trans-continental frequencies like 1130, 880, etc.
Going to have a quick
tune of the x-band to see if Tijuana is in there...
12/5
After reading that Alan in Round Rock caught WNAX in South Dakota
I've tried for several nights to null KLIF in Dallas and catch them too.
Mostly Cuba but last night I finally got something else, but not
South Dakota.
WAAX 570 in Gadsden, Alabama instead, 500w at night with Michael
Reagan Show starting at 2106 CST after TOH news.
WCOA, Pensacola, FL, 1370 @ 2100 CST
CKWX, Vancouver, BC, 1130 @ 2015 CST News, traffic and a spot for
"BC Lions" season tickets (I thought football season had ended). This
has to be the Canadian station heard most often here in Waco. KWKH in Shreveport
nulled.
XEWR, Juarez, CH, 1110 @ 2030 CST with Oldies format and some
Christmas tunes. ID in English "Classics eleven ten" Listed with 500
watts night, about 600
miles west of Waco.
1380-KHEY
TX El Paso - 12/28/07 0600 - In a tight null of presumed KLPZ, full TOH ID
"ESPN Radio, El Paso, 1380 KHEY". Fair-Good. NEW!
12/6
580 CKUA
AB Edmonton.
0720 CST. EZL mx. Folk type
music. Weather for AB &
Edmonton. alk about donating to CKUA. Did
not sound like a beg-a-thon. CFRA
took over, but CKUA was still there beneath.
Finally everything was
lost to WTCM. CKUA is
NEW for me.
December
6 @ 2.30 UTC -- 1290 khz - CFRW , Winnipeg, Manitoba w/oldies by Elton
John and the Beatles followed by station ID (Heard this a couple weeks ago for
the very first time ) Signal stronger and in longer this time
1150 khz
WHBY , Kimberly, Wisconsin @ 5:00 UT December 11 w/ First local news ID plus
Newstalk 1150 WHBY ID, Monday Night Football promo "on Westwood
One" *** New one *** very strong but shortlived signal
1440
khz Marnach, Luxembourg; Relay of China Radio International @
23:45 UT December 11, strong w/news and programming in English
1575 khz
Radio Farda , United Arab Emirates , @ 00:45 December 12;
good signal w/ Arabic vocals and techno type
music; ID in arabic
1150 khz
WHBY , Kimberly, Wisconsin @ 5:00 UT December 11 w/ First local news ID plus
Newstalk 1150 WHBY ID, Monday Night Football promo "on Westwood
One" *** New one *** very strong but shortlived signal
1440
khz Marnach, Luxembourg; Relay of China Radio International
23:45 UT December 11, strong w/news and programming in English
1575 khz
Radio Farda , United Arab Emirates , @ 00:45 December 12 ;good
signal w/ Arabic vocals and techno type music; ID in arabic
12/26-27
Did
a couple of hours of DXing via car radio while out Christmas and Boxing Day
about 102 miles northwest of St. John's "'round the bay" at Old
Perlican , Newfoundland Latitude 48 N Longitude 53 W
***
planning a on dxpedition excursion from Perlican Island next summer ***
Dec
26;
21:35
UTC 950 khz CKNB, Campbellton, New Brunswick w/ ID and oldies, good
21:38
UTC CKEC , New Glasgow, Nova Scotia w/ ID and Pro Sports Ad (this one has moved
to FM and closing AM soon. strong
21:38
UTC WDEA, Ellsworth, Maine w/ Timeless Classics slogan and station ID good
21:40
UTC CINW, Montreal, Quebec w/ Weather and Sports plus 940 Montreal ID
strong
21:45
UTC 1053 khz TalkSport Radio, England w/ commentary and ID , (hearing this even
with no 9khz split on radio) good
22:05
UTC 1390 khz WEGP, Presque Isle, Maine w/ Fox News Radio and station ID ,Guitars
Center Ad good
22:12
UTC 1480 khz , Unidentified w/ oldies format under WSAR, Falls River,
Mass, good
22:15
UTC 850 khz , WEEI, Boston, Mass w/ WEEI.com mentioned, ID Sports Radio
850 ; strong
22:15
UTC 880 khz , WCBS , New York, NY w/ Car Cash promo and ID ; strong
22:20
UTC - 830 khz, WCRN, Worcester, Mass w/ Weather PSA, and Dr. Laura
show ; good
22:22
UTC - 970 khz , WZAN , Portland, Maine , w/ Fishermens Net AD Education
Promo and Station ID ; good
23:40
UTC - 1010 khz , CFRB, Toronto, Ontario w// traffic report, Casinorama update +
station ID (over top of WINS, New York ) ; good
23:55
UTC 1050 khz , Unidentified w/ mention of a .ca web address before fading
(presumed CHUM -Toronto) ; fair
23:55
UTC 1100 khz , WTAM, Cleveland, Ohio w/ Talk show and station ID ; good
23:57
UTC 1110 khz , WBT, Charlotte, North Carolina w/ ID "Traffic and Weather
together Newstalk 11-10 WBT" ; good
Dec
27;
00:00
UTC 1300 khz - WOOD , Grand Rapids, Michigan w/ Newradio 1300 WOOD Id ; good
00:00
UTC 1350 khz - CKAD , Middleton, Nova Scotia w/ AVR Radio ID and country music ;
good
00:02
UTC 1520 khz -WWKB, Buffalo NY w/KB ID and some talk
00:02
UTC Unidentified Strong Het on 1520 w/Buffalo presumed Saudi Arabia on
1521 ; good
00:04
UTC 1580 khz - CKDO, Oshawa, Ontario w/ oldies and ID ; good
00:05
UTC 550 khz - Unidentified w/ French talk ... presumed CHLN Trois Rivieres,
Quebec ; good
00:06
UTC 1650 khz - WHKT , Norfolk, Virginia w/ Radio Disney ID and programs ;
good
00:06
UTC 1650 khz - KCNZ , Cedar Falls , Iowa w/ ID - Cedar Valley's 1650 The
Fan ; good
00:06
UTC 560 khz - WGAN , Portland, Maine w/CBS News, medical PSA ; fair under
local station from Carbonear Newfoundland which is also moving to FM Jan 6th
00:10
UTC 580 khz - CFRA , Ottawa , Ontario w/ Newstalk Radio 580 CFRA ID, talk
show **** new one **** suspected it was there before but had to get away from
St. John's local on 590 ; good
00:16
UTC 600 khz - CBNA , St. Anthony Newfoundland w/ CBC programming ; strong
00:17
UTC 610 khz - CHNC , New Carlisle , Quebec w/ french commentary ; good
00:19
UTC 660 khz WFAN , New York, NY w/ Sports talk and ID ; good
00:50
UTC 770 khz WABC , New York, NY w/ NY Rangers Hockey broadcast ; good
00:20
UTC 800 khz Unidentified in french with local VOWR off air , presumed Quebec
City CHRC ; fair
00:21
UTC 810 khz CJVA , Carraquet, New Brunswick w/ country music and french ; good
00:21
UTC 920 khz CJCH , Halifax, Nova Scotia w/ oldies , iD ; fair
00:22
UTC 1030 khz WBZ, Boston, w / ID and News and Weather ; fair
00:23
UTC 1630 khz KCJJ, Iowa City , Iowa w/ Knievel Windows AD and ID ; good
00:25
UTC 1690 khz WVON , Berwyn, Illinois w/ Weather and "Talk of Chicago"
ID ; good
12/24
Sitting
on 1260 kHz at 8:30 p.m. CST where XEL, "La Doce Sesenta" is dominant
with its female-led talk, and in its null, I hear an ID for "Radio
Ranchito", which is XEOG, Ojinaga, Chih., which I've never heard before
here in Krum. XEL used to be non-existent here, but this year, it has dominated
1260 at night, indicating that, like many other Mexican stations, it may be
using its daytime facilities. A few years ago, when I drove between here and El
Paso, on New Years Day, 2005, XEOG was silent, but last year, the day before New
Years, it was heard on the car radio.
There
are two English-speakers also on 1260, and maybe a third Spanish-speaker trying
to make it through. News Talk 104.1 and 1260, KSGF, just came up for an ID at
8:47. This little radio may breath some life into my DX.
Any ideas about a similar-sized, inexpensive MP3 type recorder that's connectible and compatible to the earphone jack. Take about five of these on the road and collect lots of good airchecks.
12/16
1200 WOAI San Antonio, TX. Okay, not exactly DX but something
interesting. As I spun the dial on the Sony, I was watching the Spurs-Nuggets
game with the TV
muted. I noticed what looked like a technical foul, so I punched
1200 into the ICF-2010 to find out what happened. It turns out the WOAI
broadcast of the game was approximately 28 seconds behind the telecast! I
listened/watched for a few minutes, and the pattern held; the radio broadcast
lagged the telecast by the
same amount throughout. WOAI was broadcasting in IBOC last night. I know there has been some delay in other IBOC broadcasts of live sports events, but, geez Louise, this is ridiculous! (Spurs won, BTW.)
12/1
Today was the first snow of the year for us and a quick flip
through the MW band on the Drake R8 revealed a very strong daytime 580 CFRA
Ottawa with their charity benefit drive thingy on [was neat to hear music on
CFRA]. Also notable was 630 CFCO
Chatam ON - quite a catch from PEI by day!
Playing oldies as usual.
Last night CFCO was coming in very well too.
I'm wondering with a couple eastern Canadian 630s now dark if CFCO was
able to get the green light from Industry Canada for a pattern modification -
perhaps if it didn't greatly affect the 15 and 5 mv/m contours the CRTC didn't
have to be involved.
12/17
Heard on a 1955/1963 Collins/Teledyne R-390A with a LF Engineering
M-
601C antenna:
820 WBAP Fort Worth TX "The News and Talk of Texas" NEW I
have long heard what appears to be a talk station underneath dominant WNYC, and
I have long thought that station to be WBAP. But, anytime I'd get near an ID, it would fade down or WNYC
would blast up. Not tonight -
getting a nice clear ID before bubbling down into a soup of stations led by
WNYC.
But wait, there's more!
820 CHAM Hamilton ON playing classic C&W NEW - I don't have an
ID as
yet, but its the same music as being played on CHAM's internet
audio from their website.
Tonight I put the 28 volt power supply for the R-392 in a low cost
but appropriate cabinet - a 50 calibre ammo box - military surplus and matches
the R-392's olive drab. I was
having a lot of fun with the R-392 pulling in the stations with its thunderous
audio [my special computer speaker mod]. Then
I powered up the R-390A and caught the above catches.
Of course my wife's comment about the ammo box and some new
military type clothing I bought with it - "You're not going to turn all
weird on me and be in a secret bunker spying on the neighbours?"
Nope, I couldn't care less about the neighbours - its broadcast DX
- especially MW - that I like to DX.
12/24
Its been a pretty good DX season for me so far.
I haven't been trying very hard, but I logged a few new to me stations.
Saturday December 22, 2007 at noon - yes at noon - the DX was
really
good - picking up many MW US daytimers in addition to all the NYC
and
Boston giants - also some 5KWers and even 1KWers in the USA NE.
Picked up 940 CINW, 1610 Toronto, 1050 CHUM, 1010 CFRB, 580 CFRA
Ottawa, 1200 CFGO, 1680 WTTM, 1650 CJRS [Radio Shalom], 1400 CBC
Gander NL etc. Plus, I
can DX every touch lamp or other nasties in the neighbourhood.
My number 1 DX hardware addition has to be the LF Engineering
M-601C
active antenna remotely located in our otherwise unwires baby barn.
At some point I will get another so I can use the Quantum Phaser
with them and have a steerable "2 tower" directional array.
Trick is to identify a good location for 2 foor "tower" number
2! This will likely tie into some
pressure treated wooden clothesline pole assembly.
My number 2 DX hardware addition would have to be the Teledyne
R-390A
RF deck D.W. Holtman rebuilt for me. Its a very smooth puppy and its nice not to have to be always
subtracting from the frequency display. Plus,
it works well on all 31 or 32 bands.
12/31
1580 CKDO Oshawa ON with Daryl Maclean - Daryl is an old high
school buddy of mine - Daryl had emailed me a week or so ago to tell me he is
now working swing shift at CKDO. Reception
was weak. First time I've got CKDO
so close to noon!
1580 WLIM Patchogue NY - Spanish language programming - weak and
alternating with CKDO. NEW
12/22
I
fired up my SRF-59 just a minute ago and was tunning from the right end of the
dial to find a readable signal to listen to.
And
low and behold, my first logging... I heard at about 11:18, coming out of a
song, "Praise Radio for Cookeville, WATX".. then into some female
talking and now there's an add with a toll free number. (WATX is on 1590khz in
Algood, Tennessee just east of Cookeville, east of Nashville)
920
CJCH N.S. Canada 4:20 PM EST gave calls then played Jack (think thats name of
song) by rolling stones. 12/29/07
12/30
Last
night i was seriouly thinking on the Sangeon DT-200vx and was going to order
from CC crane. Today while running my eldery father around on errands we stopped
in a circuit city plaza. While he did his faxing and stuff i ran into circuit
city. The sales people were extremly busy getting HD radios out of the stock
room along with a long line of people checking out with them. I finally got one
of them to show me where walkmans were. he took me to the shelf and handed me
two radios. The sony SRF-37 (the one with TV band) and the SRF-59. I took the
SR-59 no qustons asked. I paid $26.05 for it.that was a $11 instant gratifation
tax. I wanted to use it rght away but the sheid around it put a damper on that.
Finnally got it home and got it out of the bubble blister pack. put the battery
in. took a few minutes to get the feel of it. once i did found its all
whats been claimed it is !!!!
On
FM in an IBOC jammed market (most running IBOC between here and boston) it
sliced thru it like a hot knife cutting butter.
boston
stations 45-60 miles away pounded in like locals. semi locals were easy to hold
in !!!
Next
i hit the AM side: heres a partal band scan (warwick R.I.):
550-local
580-boston
590-
boston-worestor
630-local
650-boston
pulled it right in (hard on other radios)
660-
NY NY poundng in
680-boston
like a local
760-
somewhere mass
770-
WABC NY hard to get during day it pulled it in even kaito 1103 has trouble
with
it days.
790-
LOCAL
810-
ny
820-
ny (i think)
830-worestor
850-
boston
880-
WCBS NY local like
1010-
WINS NY hard to get during day getting some skywave fading up and pounding in at
2:pm EST.
1030-
WBZ best i hae heard it in a long time and nulls their IBOC right down to
nothing.
As
i said the bandscan is just a quick sampling and daytime at that !!! i am
pleased with this radio. It also looks classy. And the headphones are DECENT
that it comes with !!!!! Thanks go out to those that recommended it. Ill revisit
that sangeon down the road but fr now this little mighty mite can handle the CME
!!!!
12/23
It's a midafternoon dial scan on the 60's Fisher Console stereo.
From near Silverstreet, SC!
560 WVOC SC
Columbia 1338 with the Gary Sullivan home improvement show
580 WGAC GA
Augusta 1340
Ho hum, a re-run of Rush.
Can't hear a trace of their HD.
620 WGCV
SC Cayce 1342
running Black Gospel music
660 WLFJ
SC Greenville
1343 religious talk
780 WWOL
NC Forest City 1344 TWANGY
southern preacher
840 WCEO
SC Columbia
1346 Spanish commercial for
Unlimited Cuts
860 WLBG
SC Laurens 1347
religious weekend program SCREAMING preacher...
890 WBAJ
SC Blythewood 1348 religious Blythewood is just north of Columbia, SC
910 WOLI
SC Spartanburg
1350 SS music
950 WORD SC
Spartanburg 1351
NFL game from CBS
1020 WRIX SC Homeland
Park 1352 Christmas music....COL is right by Honea Path SC.
I don't think Homeland Park is a real town.
1050 WFAM
GA Augusta 1354
more preaching
1090 WCZZ SC
Greenwood 1355 UP tempo
Black Gospel music
1170 WQVA
SC Lexington 1356 SS music
1190 WJES SC
Saluda 1358
Christmas Music
1220 WDYT NC Kings Mountain 1359
pretending to be a Charlotte station
1240 WKDK SC Newberry
1335 Christmas music
1260 WMUU
SC Greenville 1401 Christmas music
1290 WHKY
NC Hickory
1402 Sports
1320 WISW
SC Columbia
talk
1330 WYRD
SC Greenville 1410
NFL on Westwood ONE
1350 WLMA
SC Greenwood
1412 SCREAMING preacher
1410 WPCC
SC Clinton
Sports
1430 WBLR
SC Batesburg SS
GNN
1450 WCRS
SC Greenwood
Christmas music
1470 WQXL
SC Columbia
1417
1520 WKMG
SC Newberry 1418 Cornell Blakely
1560 WAGL
SC Lancaster 1419
MOYL.
Note no WBT. The
console must be in the correct position for a null !!
12/2
I had a station on 1110 this evening (6:00p.m./1800) that had a
good signal mixing with WBT in Charlotte, NC from time-to-time. It started off
around 5:30 or so with a black male and a black female preaching. I missed the
TOH ID, but I then heard Southern Gospel music. I'm sure it was from the same
station though.
"????, The Power of Change. 1110 on your AM dial."
1370 WGIV NC Pineville - 12/21/07 1801 - Gospel Music, TOH ID, and
he "Girlfriend! Get A Life!" show. Good signal only to fade away as
the show started. "WGIV, Charlotte".
850 WTAR VA Norfolk - 12/22/07 2245 - 1/4-Drop and The Dr. Laura
Show. Weak signal in the mix of stations on the frequency. "WTAR".
1030 WQSE TN White Bluff - 12/23/07 0600 - Southern Gospel, TOH ID,
and more Southern Gospel. Weak, but steady signal mixed with WBZ in Boston, MA.
"This is WQSE, 1030 AM, White Bluff".
850 WPTB GA Statesboro - 12/26/07 0100 ESPN Radio Game Night, TOH
ID, and more ESPN Radio. Decent signal with fades. "WPTB, Statesboro".
1220 WDYT NC Kings Mountain - 12/25/07 0806 - FOX Sports Radio
program. Good signal. "Think Radio 1220, WDYT"
980 WAZS SC Summerville - 12/27/07 0026 - Oldies and mentions of
Charleston. Good signal only to fade to just above the mix. "The New
Rocket 980".
530
Radio Rebelde Cuba Havana - 12/28/07 0100 - Latin music and
Female Announcer with TOH ID. Decent, steady signal mixed with Radio
Vision Cristiana Internacional, South Caicos. "...Radio
Rebelde...Cuba"\ 1010 WJXL FL Jacksonville -
12/31/07 2341 - Sports news and scores. Good signal trading places with CFRB in
Toronto, Ontario, Canada. "Jacksonville's Sports Radio, 1010 XL".
HD AM Radio Log
Radiosophy HD100 with Whip Antenna
Saturday, Dec 22, 2007
10:30 - 10:45 AM CST
-----------------------------------
790 kHz KBME-HD
950 kHz KPRC-HD
1590 kHz /KMIC/ HD
could't lock on signal
-----------------------------------
12/22
Three X-Band stations heard while waiting in the Camry while my
wife was shopping ...
All times are CST (GMT - 6 hrs, EST - 1 hr)
1630 KKGM TX FORT WORTH - 3:39 PM with "Southern Gospel 1630
KKGM" ID and into "Long Black Train" by Josh Turner.
At 3:46 PM, announcer Danny Adams gave long promo spot about the
station's Christmas Concert Prize Package worth $50.
1650 KWHN AR FORT SMITH - 3:30 PM with the Dave Ramsey Show,
already in progress. Had many problems with their audio feed, namely a period of
dead air from 3:31 PM until 3:41 PM. At 3:51 PM, heard ID as "You're listening to News Talk
KWHN."
1680 KRJO LA MONROE - University of New Orleans Football Game, spot
for the Louisiana Coca-Cola Enterprise at 3:52 PM, then short "KRJO"
ID heard beneath UNO game feed.
All stations heard in the parking lot of the La Marque, TX, Outlet
Mall.
12/8
Heard
on a Zenith Trans-Oceanic H500 unaided on battery power:
660
KTNN Window Rock, AZ 1123 playing C&W NN announcer
690
KVOI Tucson, AZ 1125 ad for Hometown Buffet in Tucson on Oracle.
1030
KCEE Tucson, AZ 1127 playing Garden Party by Ricky Nelson
1080
KGVY Green Valley, AZ 1129 Christmas music then ID
1130
KQNA Prescott, AZ 1128 Dennis Prager
1210
KQTL Sahuarito, AZ 1128 ranchera
9985
WWCR Nashville, TN 1830 with stopset between Alex Jones Show
12/22
530 UNID [R. Encyclopedia LaHabana ed.] SS woman announcer playing
Charmaine by Mantovani and beautiful music pieces at 12/22 0410 MST. No idea who
this could be.
690 KGGF Coffeyville, KS 12/22 0430 BoH ID and ad for County Line
auto sales.
12/22
Heard on a Zenith 8H034 [ http://www.antiqueradiomuseum.org/
woodradiospage2.htm half
way down the page] from 1946 and it was
nekkid:
640 KFI LA, Cal 2153 talk about fathers in black homes.
660 KTNN Window Rock, AZ 2154 C&W NN.
680 KNBR SF, Cal 2155 sports talk ab[ot athletes putting on 10 lbs
in a week.
760 KFMB SD, Cal 2158 talk about Al Gore.
770 KKOB Albuquerque, NM 2158 Art Bell.
800 XEROK Ciudad Juarez, Chih 2159 Ranchera, MX
810 KGO SF, Cal 2159 talk about radical Islam.
1070 KNX LA, Cal 2200 talk about an asteroid that may hit Mars.
1080 KRLD Dallas, TX 2200 ad for Solaris Laser Institute under
nasty KNX hash.
1110 KFAB Omaha, NE 2203 Fox News and Fox Business ad.
1130 KWKH Shreveport, LA 2213 Ronnie Millsap with C&W.
1160 KSL SLC, UT 2212 BYU post game.
1200 WOAI San Antonio, TX 2211 Spurs post game.
1380 KHEY El Paso, TX 2210 sports talk.
1520 KOKC OKC, OK 2208 ad for Neil Boortz.
1570 XERF Ciudad Acuna, Chih 2209 SS woman.
12/10
Locals KCFO-970, KGTO-1050, KAKC-1300 and KMUS-1380 currently off
the
air. KTBZ-1430 has IBOC turned off. Presumably all due to the major
ice
storm. My antenna mast has been bent at 90 degrees and the wires
are all
tangled up in my mangled willow tree in the back yard. Fortunately
we
still have power, unlike many others here in NE Oklahoma. Major
tree
damage and power outages in the Tulsa area. Guess I'll try the
DX398
this evening since my outdoor wires are toast.
12/12
Locals KCFO-970, KGTO-1050, KRVT-1270 and KMUS-1380 all still off
as of
this evening. KAKC-1300 noted back on this AM on drive to work,
KBTZ-1430 never off but their IBOC has been turned off.
I have logged 4 new ones and 2 tentatives so far on the vacated
local
frequencies. I'll have details later but new ones include 970:
WGTK-KY,
WDAY-ND and WMAY-IL 1380: KHEY-TX. Tentative logs 1050: CKSB-MB and
1380: KLIZ-MN.
The wires that came down with the willow tree in the backyard are
still
useable but phasing is difficult and unpredictable. One of the
wires is
mostly on the ground, the other is still "kind-of" in the
air, draped
over,thru and around broken limbs.
A lot of Tulsa is still without power this evening. We still have
power
here at the house but one of my stores is still power-less. We
operated
a few hours today using a borrowed generator, enough power to
operate
one computer and printer. KRMG-740 was giving away firewood today
for
folks without power that have fireplaces. They got a lot of good
publicity on local TV news programs this evening! Tragically, there
have
been 36 hospitalizations and 2 deaths here in Tulsa due to carbon
monoxide poisoning from gasoline-powered generators being used
*indoors*
12/13
KCFO-970 and KMUS-1380 both back on the air today, KGTO-1050 and
KRVT-1270 still off. KTBZ-1430 has IBOC back on tonite as does
KMUS.
Big sections of Tulsa are still without electricity, including one
of my
stores. More tragedies as 2 people died in fires, one started by an
unattended candle, the other started by an electrical short from a
generator.
12/16
A summary of what I heard while some of my locals were off due to
the
ice storm.
970 WGTK-KY Louisville 11DEC07 2005CST "News Talk 970
WGTK" quite strong into an ad for Citracal (BW-OK)
970 WDAY-ND Fargo 11DEC07 2200CST a couple of CLIDs in the jumble
and
mentions of Fargo (BW-OK)
970 WMAY-IL Springfield 12DEC07 "The News Talk of Springfield,
9-70
WMAY" (BW-OK)
1380 KLIZ-MN Brainerd 12DEC07 2300-2305CST presumed the one
w/Minnesota Wild NHL hockey broadcast (BW-OK)
1380 KHEY-TX El Paso 12DEC07 2237-2239CST "ElPaso's
ESPN", ESPN Radio 1380" slogans, CLIDs (BW-OK)
1050 CKSB-MB Winnipeg 12DEC07 1630CST presumed the one with FF
vocal mx and OM in FF talk (BW-OK)
12/20
There is an unusual station on 550 [XEPL ed.] in Central Texas
tonight. It is not a US station,
and does not sound like Spanish, but could be. Having difficulty getting a fix
on the language. Lots of singing. Sounds like a Christmas program. Some
commercials, one clearly mentioned coca cola. I'm battling KTSA to hear it well.
12/25
Anyone looking for a Canadian logging should check 990 tonight. CBW
coming in at with good signal at times.It's a nice 1300 mile catch from here.
About a month ago, about 99% of my previously bad line noise went
away for
good, it seems as I can now drive up and down IL Hwy 59 and DX
whereas at
times there had been noise under locals !
Therefore I could move the ends
of my western BOGs closer to the highway and the previously noisy
powerlines.
The BOG now is about 425 feet long and runs at about 273 degrees.
Starting
at about 277 degrees and making a soft and gradual bend to 270 due
to the
lay of the land here. It is terminated via a basic 270 ohm Radio
Shack
resistor connected to my typical ground, a 5 foot piece of 1"
diameter pipe.
Some listening shows an improvement from the previous 350 footer as
F/B is
improved. Once again best termination seems to be midband. But in
comparison
to the shorter BOG the effects on channels like 1060 are dramatic.
WHFB to
the east is hammered during the day and weakling WRHL mixes with
them. Last
night KYW was hammered and at times no trace u/someone (I think
KNLV) called the Christmas Channel. On 1130 last night I had no trace of WBBR
and it was KBMR's 24 watts atop KFAN and some CKWX. 950 had Denver's KKFN nicely
atop my SS Chicago local. Daytimes WNTA is now mixing with WKTA. Not much
termination effect is noted near
the band's edges however, but this antenna is certainly better than no
termination. Speaking of daytimes, just after
2PM here and I came in from the DX car after listening to CBW's
weatherman
bragging about a high of -12C today.
I look forward to lengthening and fixing up my longer one (will be
about 600
ft) and hopefully getting a
decent termination on that one as well. When I then phase the pair of them, I'll
be starting with less eastern signals and hopefully can get a complete kill on
pests east of me.
12/2
Heard on a tiny mighty mite Sony SRF-37 nekkid:
690 CBU 0705 CBC News story about Cesar Chavez in Venezuela. Weak.
12/2
Had a moment while sitting here in my easy chair having dinner….decided to hit Radio Locator and see what they have to offer as far as oldies stations on 1550 so I could see if I could pick out what I was hearing the other night. Most likely candidate appears to be KSFT in St Joseph, MO. There really aren’t many (only 2 or 3) stations listed at all at 1550 with oldies. KSFT has all the jock pictures on their web site….even the Good Time Oldies logo (which is name of Jones Radio’s oldies network – the one I heard) so I’m guessing this is who I heard. I checked the Vancouver, WA station’s web site as well as K-Joy (Albuquerque)’s web site and both still very much show Nostalgia so I’m guessing neither of them has changed format although they’d be closer to me. Meanwhile KSFT shows they are 5000 watts full time……just directional at night. So I don’t know if they were on their ND pattern or if I just hadn’t sat there long enough to notice that I could get them if I sat there long enough. In any case I think the UNID mystery is solved. St Joseph, MO is a pretty good hop to Wyo….especially for a 5kw station at 1550.
12/2
I noticed for the first time today in a long time that WWWT 1500
(and
its predecessors) has IBOC at night. Now 1490 and 1510 are wiped
out
even with careful tuning of the antenna.
For anyone who has not heard TWR (Transmundial) on 800 from
Bonaire,
they are strong on 800 right now.
12/19 2104 EST
12/25
Santa brought a nice Christmas present to my radio shack. It was
the 1800th station heard here in Maryland by me! The station was WLEC 1450 and I
heard a female announcer give a station ID as "Sports Radio Sandusky,
WLEC" at 1743 12/15. Thanks to Russ Edmunds and Barry McLarnon for helping
with the ID.
I have posted a bunch of IDs of unidentified US and other AM
stations at
http://www.dxing.info/audio/unid/lem239/
and would greatly appreciate
your help in solving these mysteries. The file names indicate
frequency,
a rough description of where the station is from, date
(year_month_day),
and time in UTC.
Unless otherwise indicated, all North American stations were heard
using
an antenna pointing at 300 degrees, normally bringing in stations
from
the East Coast to the Midwest, occasionally up to the Rocky
Mountains.
All of the above stations were heard on a DXpedition to Finnish
Lapland
last winter. You can find a full log at http://www.dxing.info/dxpeditions/lem239log.dx
which will also give you
an idea of what the most common stations on each frequency are from
a
European perspective.
Some additional details and comments on individual files:
- 960 both clips likely the same station. Do you know if WTCH (the
most
likely candidate, already QSLed) uses the slogan "Your
hometown station"?
- 1220 Christian talk station (with regular CJRB). The Oregon
station,
already QSLed, would be the most likely candidate, but whatever
their
calls were at the time (KCCS/KBDY/KPJC?) it doesn't seem to fit,
and
even they wouldn't have music from 10 pm through the night (to 3
am?),
as mentioned in the announcement
- 1340: I have a candidate for the calls, but whatever comes after
them
(location or slogan?) doesn't fit
- 1410: ESPN station: "1410 AM, W...., Radio ..., your home
for the ...
championship games, ESPN Radio" - this is very interesting, as
the calls
don't sound like WING which would be the most common ESPN station
here
- "Gospel Inspiration" on 1480 AM, which should be from
the West Coast
or the Rockies based on antenna direction (336 degrees), but the
closest
I can find gospel stations is Texas. At the time (1328 UTC) the sun
was
rising in Texas, so it could be possible, and a stunning surprise,
but
I'd like to rule out the regular KBMS Vancouver WA - can anyone
living
in the state of WA say whether this would be KBMS or something
better?
It was early Sunday morning US time, so maybe even a non-gospel
station
could be airing gospel music.
- 1540: first the pest KXEL, then a very interesting W ID
- 1560: this ESPN station is probably just WPAD, a relatively
common catch?
- finally on 1590 kHz, a country station which I thought gave its
slogan, but I would like to hear your ideas first. This was heard
at
1216 UTC. WIXK (already QSLed) would be the most obvious country
station
here, but there are rarer C&W stations as well.
The Whole Earth
ANGUILLA. Dr Gene Scott, from 2346 to audio out at 2348 UTC on 6090
kHz. Prior to audio
going out, adjacent channel interference from 6085 kHz. Checked back at 0006 UTC
and audio was back on. Dec. 16-17
CUBA [non]/CLANDESTINE. presumed Radio Republica 6135 kHz 2357 UTC.
80s Spanish pop song, call-in talk in Spanish. Off air at 2359 UTC.
Good signal. Dec 16
NETHERLANDS ANTILLES- Bonaire. Radio Netherlands. Dutch talk. 6165
kHz, actually had to tune to 6163 kHz to get away from a constant
whistling sound on 6165. 2345 UTC.
Dec. 16
SAUDI ARABIA- Riyadh. BSKSA
in Arabic with prayer/chants and Arabic
(presumably news) at the top of the hour.
I listened from about 1945-2015 UTC on 9870 kHz. Weak to Fair. Dec. 16
UNIDs 6180 kHz* possibly Radio Havana Cuba* weak signal sounded
like
Spanish on channel (RHC) and a political speech in a forceful
sounding language on the other channel. I
suppose it could be a political speech in the background with a voice over on
the same station. Channel(s) were not coming in good at all. @ 2335-2340 UTC.
Dec. 16
UNID 6110 kHz. on 0007 UTC. Presumed Radio Tirana Albania in Albanian perhaps. Dec. 17
December 17 SW Logs
CANADA- CHU. Time Signal. At 1857 UTC on 14670 kHz. Moderate signal
strength.
CANADA- Radio Canada International. Talk of Worker's Rights.
English. 1828 UTC on 17790 kHz.
CANADA- Radio Canada International. English Talk of Climate summit.
1803 UTC on 15365 kHz. Fair to Good Signal.
GABON- Africa Numero Un. With afropop at 1722 UTC on 15475 kHz.
Weak, but better than usual, quite a bit above noise level. Dec 17.
NETHERLAND ANTILLES- 17605 kHz at 1814 in Dutch?. Fair signal
SPAIN- Radio Exterior de Espana. Station ID. Spanish. 1829 UTC on
17850 kHz.
USA- KTBN… 15590 kHz at 1812 UTC. Religious music. Excellent
signal strength.
USA- KVOH… 17775 kHz at 1820 UTC. Sermon in Spanish language.
Excellent signal strength. "La Voz de Restauracion" ID.
Website given, but all I could really distinguish was doble v, doble v,
doble v", <something> "cinco."
USA/CUBA- R Marti…Spanish talk, lots of mention of
"Cuba." 13820 kHz at 1841 UTC. No
notice of Cuban Bubble Jammer until 1843 UTC.
USA- WINB… 13570 kHz at 1835 UTC. Sermon in English. Very Strong
signal strength.
USA- WYFR… 13695 kHz at 1838 UTC. Harold Camping preaching.
Surprisingly weak signal strength.
USA- WWV… 10000 kHz at 1854 UTC. Good signal strength. 15000 kHz
at 1855 UTC. Good signal strength.
December 18 Logs
UNID- ?INDIA? All India Radio (Tent) This station was barely
audible. Listened at 0545 UTC while
trying to figure out what it was, then it went off at 0558 UTC.
Something else, or perhaps the same station came on at 0600 UTC. Both
stations were barely audible, I was just able to tell something was there, and
could not identify the language of broadcast although it sounded possibly
Urdu/Arabic/Hindi in tonality and pace.
RUSSIA. Voice of Russia. Classical music that sounded like
Tchiakovsky. 0535 UTC on 7350 kHz. Strong signal. While looking on their website for frequency info, I noticed
that the Voice of Russia has podcasts available.
TUNISIA. Radio Television Tunisienne. Arabic music (possibly Quran prayers?) 0527-0530 UTC on 7275
kHz. Weak signal.
UNITED KINGDOM. BBC
Service to Africa. 7160 kHz.
Cuban president stepping down, South Africa, Death Star Galaxy, and
English talk of cricket. 0510-0519 UTC. Weak signal.
UNITED STATES. KTBN. 7505 kHz. English Religious Talk. 0608 UTC.
Good signal.
UNITED STATES. WHRA. 7465 kHz. Preaching in English. 0605 UTC. Fair
signal.
UNITED STATES. WYFR in German. 0613 UTC on 7780 kHz. Fair signal.
UNITED STATES. Voice of America. 0624 UTC on 9480 kHz in French
talk
playing American Pop Music. "This program has come to you from
the
Voice of America- Washington" ID in English at the half-hour.
12/12
Tibet: Tuning through 49mb Tuesday evening I heard classical music
on 6130 at 0145z. I checked for parallels and found the same program on 5240
& 7385 (all synchronized). So, must be Peoples Broadcasting Service via
Lhasa.
Iran: Iranian international service in English, 6120 @ 0200z.
//7160
12/21
I came across English on 12080 this morning at 1445z but it wasn't
R Australia Brandon. I quickly decided it was R Netherland to So Asia via
Madagascar. I then checked WRTH for parallels and heard the same program, with a
slight delay, on 9345 listed as via Uzbekistan with 100 kw @ 131º. (So off the
back side of the beam).
HFCC B07 9345 1359 1557 41,49,54 TAC 100 131
12/4
2850 N. Korea Pyongyang 1845 with KK radio drama. Fair and steady.
3320 N. Korea Pyongyang 1851 KK choral music. Fair.
4450 N. Korea Pyongyang 1856 KK radio drama with jammer from hell
atop. Poor.
5890 WWCR Nashville, TN 1905 with "The Power Hour" and a
local signal.
12/7
3250 Pyongyang BS Pyongyang, DPRK 1411 KK man with choir in
background. Fair.
3280 Voice of Pujiang Shanghai, China 1414 CC woman, poor.
3925 Radio Nikkei Tokyo, Japan 1417 JJ 2 men and woman with ham
QRM.
Fair.
3985 Echo of Hope Seoul, S. Korea 1419 KK with massive jamming.
Poor.
5030 CPBS Beijing, China 1423 CC 2 women and man. Local signal.
5050 Guangxi Foreign BS Guangxi, China 1426 VV and Voice of the
Strait Fuzhou, China CC in collision both poor.
5075 Voice of Pujiang Shanghai, China 1430 CC woman announcer into
music. Weak.
5815 Radio Racja Sitkunai, Lithuania 1433 RR woman reading news
with
mention of Iraq. Good.
5840 Radio Free Asia Agignan Point 1435 CC man and woman with
classical music in the background. fair.
5930 Voice of Russia Vladivostok, Russia 1442 CC with RR music,
Fair.
5950 Radio New Zealand International Rangitaki, NZ 1445 EE playing
country music then "Rebel Without a Clue" then ID. Poor.
6105 Voice of America Tinang 1455 EE with a program about
songwriter
Laura Nyro. Fair.
12/23
9760 Voice of America Philippines 12/23 1310 with Jazz America
playing all the jazz
songs nominated for a Grammy. There was a lot
of very excellent music in this program. If it is re-aired, do give
a
listen. There was a lot of local QRM but the signal was fair.
12/9
Stuff heard this morning between 1230-1245 UTC using the ICF-2010
and its telescoping whip:
2310 AUSTRALIA. Australian BC, listed Alice Springs, with English
talk with man and woman,mentions of "ABC," fair to poor signals.
2485 AUSTRALIA Austalian BC,similar programming to 2310 but
slightly better signals.
2500 WWVH, Kauai, Hawaii, female voice announcements under WWV just
prior to WWV's male announcer.
2850 NORTH KOREA Central Broadcasting Station with what seemed to be a revolutionary opera.
12/16
3810 ECUADOR HD2IOA, Guayaquil, with time pips amid the LSB 0316,
good signals but QRM was heavy at times. However, the pips really stand out in
AM with a narrow filter.
6925 PIRATE WTCR in USB with muy weirdass remixed version of Neil
Young's "Cowgirl in the Sand" (very heavy bass line added) at 0302
tune-in, 0307 ID by man and request for reports to Box 1, Belfast, NY, and
abruptly off. Very strong signal for a pirate!
12/29
4053 GUATEMALA Radio Verdad, Chiquimula, beautiful signal 12/29 at
1254 UTC tune-in with wonderful guitar and vocal music, ID by woman 1257 and
mention of "programa de las amigas," followed by non-stop musical
selections until 1315 tune out. Outstanding signal for listed 800 watts, no fading or interference, a pure delight to listen to!
** AUSTRALIA. My Nov 25 log on 4910 as VL8A Alice should have been
VL8T Tennant Creek --- tho I did hear them ID as Alice, apparently being
relayed. I never can remember which is which. The correxion was made
subsequently in DXLD, but if you quote this log please be sure to make this
correxion, now or at the next opportunity
** COLOMBIA. Just as Julián Santiago Díez de Bonilla suspected,
La Voz de tu
Conciencia is still active on 6010 after 0400 UT, despite reports
that it was
deferring to Mexico`s Radio Mil at 04-13. Dec 2 at 0620 I started
monitoring,
and heard weak nondescript music, fast SAH from a second station.
But which was which? Finally at 0706 there was a full ID for La Voz de tu
Conciencia, Puerto Lleras, and timecheck for 2:05 am, then into sermon. By this
time its signal was stronger and XEOI, if there, was completely overridden.
** CUBA. Radio Havano Kubo, Esperanto confirmed UT Sunday Dec 2 at
0707 on 6000, which extends past 0700 on Sundays only. Also repeated Sunday at
1515 on 11760, report on some conference in Montrealo.
R. Rebelde, 5025, playing multiple versions of the song ``La última
noche que
pasé contigo``, Dec 2 at 1332. I only heard three, but there were
several more
per the back-announce. I enjoy such daring programming
** MEXICO. Radio Mil, XEOI, 6010, weak but audible Sunday Dec 2 at
1316 with
``Viva la Música Mexicana`` show of YL songs; earlier gave phone
number in the
cabina, taking requests? No co-channel QRM at this hour, but
COLOMBIA [q.v.]
would have faded out anyway. There was some splatter from 6020 or
6000, not
sure which. By 1350 XEOI was even weaker as the sun ascended. I
think it must
be running very low power; now eclipsed by XEXQ on 6045, much
stronger at 1324 check with classical music
** U S A. WYFR is having some strange problem with double audio,
like echoes of about the same strength. Not long/short path in this case, I am
quite sure. Dec
2 at 0623 the WYFR (not RTI) Cantonese to WNAm transmission on 5985
exhibited this, and also at 1349 on 13695, WYFR Mandarin to NAm.
This anomaly was first reported by Larry Will in Maryland, December
2, at
0409-0416 on new 6915; when I checked 6915 at 0615 I heard no echo,
but Ron
** ERITREA [non]. As mentioned in DXLD 7-144, V. of Meselná
Delina, clandestine via WHRA, confirmed on new 12015, excellent reception here
off the back of the antenna, Dec 3 at 1829 tune-in, just in time to hear a few
words in presumed Tigrinya, one minute promo in English for WHR reaching the
unreached, 1830 back to language, presumed the same but not certain; could not
make out any program name ID. Is this reflected in the online WHRA program
schedule, http://www.whr.org/index.cfm?fa=schedule&Search=Angel5
--- ? of course not! It still shows
17650 and 4 different English-language
gospel-huxter programs at 1830-1900, after half an hour of VOMD,
but apparentlythat is now extended to a full hour. Or has a companion.
The VOMD website http://vodm.asmarino.com/
still gives outdated frequency if
not time:
Days: Monday - Friday
Time: 9:00PM - 9:30PM Eritrea time
Frequency 17650 kHz (16.9 meter band)
** ETHIOPIA [non]. I monitored WHRA 11785 again Monday December 3,
from tune-in 1920, and the mystery African(?) language clandestine(?) was
already underway so may have started as early as 1900. Man was giving an
impassioned speech, phone quality. At 1932 some music, and later in that
semihour a woman talking with studio quality. Recorded, including the closing
about 1956, in a 2:47 rm clip, 433 kb, with typical music before and after. It
sounds somewhat familiar,
but the ID at 1:00 into the clip does not. Actually it seems to be
an e-mail
address, like wainamradio@mabarak... but I am not at all sure of
that. Later
there is a www given too but marred by fade/distortion. I hope
someone can
recognize the language or even identify it. . . Have a listen at http://www.w4uvh.net/whra11785unid.rm
Then I make another check of the WHRA online schedule, and the
answer seems toappear:
1900 Mo 0200 PM 0300 PM Monday - Friday Demitse-Tewahedo Demitse
Tewahedo Demitse Tewahedo 11.785 Mhz
Which in WHR`s wacky way of presentation means it is on Mondays
only at
1900-2000 UT, with other (English) programming shown during the
same time other days.
So it must be the same one still showing on the TDP schedule for
A-07
http://www.airtime.be/schedule.html
as:
Zena Tewahedo the Ligament Holy Synod of the Ethiopian Orthodox
Tewahedo Churchin Exile 1600-1700 15260 AM m...... Amharic Africa
but which is replaced in the B-07 schedule below it by:
EOTC Holy Synod Radio 1600-1700 9445 AM m...... Amharic Africa
Note that EOTC matches as an abbr. for Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo
Church
The EOTC website http://exile.eotcholysynod.org/
still has them on 9445 ``due
to weather conditions``, and mp3 audio files of the last few weeks`
broadcasts
are available for download.
However, the last 3 minutes of their audio file do NOT match what I
heard and
recorded today on WHRA, in music or announcements, gender of
announcer,
including several clear Zena Tewáhedo IDs in the last few minutes.
The file
gives a Los Angeles address, and eotc e-mail address as on the
website.
A couple times during the SW broadcast I heard Louisiana mentioned.
Another
possibility is that they are producing two different programs for
TDP and WHR,
but I suspect it is not Zena Tewahedo but some other possibly
related
clandestine.
And that which I previously reported during the same hour on
Thursday, Nov 22
may also be something different. We need to check other days of the
week as
there may be other clandestine programs on this frequency, just as
TDP once had a full schedule of several different rotating programs depending on
day of
week, on 15260 and now on 9445 --- or have those now been replaced
by WHRA transmissions? But this may be in addition rather than in replacement:
the
opening announcement in their Dec 3 audio file mentions kHz and
meterband
twice. If they do match up, the Thursday broadcast could be EPPF
Radio.
I hope someone can evaluate my clip on its own merits, and also
check this
transmission other days of the week
José Miguel Romero suggests some possibilities, but I am not sure
either is a
complete match:
Saludos Glenn, puede tratarse de Voice of Tewahedo Ethiopian
Orthodox,
programa religioso emitido por New World Radio 1120 AM Washington
DC.
http://wust1120.com/index2.html
Esta emisora emite una serie de programas religiosos, entre ellos
para la
comunidad Ethiope. Al descargar el audio se puede leer Demitse
Tewahedo.
Glenn, otra posibilidad mas factible es que se trata de Finote
Selam Radio
Si se escucha el final del audio correspondiente al 2 de Diciembre,
la música
es la misma. 73
Hmm, that one has separate programs on stations in Denver (Dec 2),
Washington, Atlanta. Music may be same, but announcement is different. What does
Tewahedo mean? The word seems to be in the name of more than one program/station
** ETHIOPIA [and non]. Dec 3 check of DW Amharic at 1400: poor
signal on 15620, no jamming audible, and no signal on 15660; 11645 had noise
level slightly higher than local noise level on band. 1455 recheck, 15660 noise
jamming also audible
** SOUTH AFRICA. SSIRI, 15675 via Meyerton, Tue Dec 4 from 1400
with usual
condescending English lessons with frequent bell-sounds as cues to
``interact``; ended at 1429:30 and then observed two different tones, hi and lo,
alternating every 6 seconds until 1431* This appears to be typical behaviour for
SENTECH and a useful clue in other cases
** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. Brother Scare, 13810 via ``Jew-lick``,
GERMANY, Dec 4 at 1439, running about 1 second behind WWRB 9385. Quite weak on
13810 and I don`t often hear it. Currently HFCC registered as 14-16 at 115
degrees, but http://www.overcomerministry.org/SW-UTC.htm
not revised since Sept 13! Shows 13-15
** SPAIN. REE has absolutely no class, especially during its
classical music
show: Dec 3 at 1455, Mozart`s beautiful ``Exsultate, Jubilate``
rudely
interrupted on 17595 to NAm for irrelevant African frequency change
announcement as always on weekdays. // 15585 was not interrupted,
but too weak to substitute
** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. R. Nacional de la RASD, 6300, nice
listening with
chanting, music, Dec 3 at 0710-0722+, and this late, no QRM de Cuba
leapfrog
** ALASKA [and non]. KNLS presumed on 6890, the weak station in
English, Dec 5 at 1323, but then in Chinese at 1325. Current FCC listings show
WWRB on at same time, 1200-1500, but no sign of it, as usual over-scheduled;
while KNLS is on 6890 during this one hour only, in Chinese. 6890 has WYFR also
listed at 09-13 and WWRB also at 22-05
** ALBANIA. R. Tirana, 13640 check Dec 5: 1529, IS and opening
theme, S9+10 but local hi noise level; SINPO 35343
** CHINA [and non]. CRI, 9450, collided with Poland [q.v.] via
Germany, Dec 5
from *1357 musical prélude mixing with Poland`s rock music. CRI`s
préludes
should be dispensable to avoid such conflicts, and instead
crash-start at
hourtop, but hey, we know what a ``good neighbor`` CRI is.
Ironically, Poland
had just been talking about its severe trade imbalance and hoping
for Chinese
aid to railways.
This CRI broadcast is in Russian at 1400, 37 degrees from
Shijiazhuang, which
means it`s also aimed at North America. And even more ironically,
it then had
QRM from Firedrake --- Chicoms vs Chicoms! This is because Sound of
Hope also starts 9450 at 1400; per Aoki it`s 100 kW at 335 degrees from Yunlin,
Taiwan, which must have been the third station in the mix.
More Firedrake on 9930, VG and in the clear, Dec 5 at 1424, not a
trace of
anything else on frequency even during pauses, but the jamming is
also there
because Sound of Hope is scheduled on KWHR 9930, M-F at 14-17. Is
it really on or have they pulled a fast one, QSY to somewhere else?
** ETHIOPIA [and non]. Dec 5 check of DW Amharic: at 1430 fair and
clear on
Rwanda 15620, but only noise on 15660; even more so at 1456
recheck. Greece
15650 also had some tones on it briefly around 1430 so wondered if
some jamming was mistuned. No tone test on 15630 this day
** INDIA [and non]. AIR VBS, 9870, VG except for polar flutter, Dec
5 at 1414,
music splashing over VOA 9865 report on how caste problems detract
from
educational opportunities in India. VOA is 108 degrees from
Lampertheim, which
means an even bigger clash in the Middle East
** MEXICO. No sign of XEYU, 9599+, Dec 5 around 0635; possibly
long-skip
propagation instead as ANO 9580 was better than usual. But at 1338,
XEYU was
loud and clear with RFI news relay; in fact, much better than RA on
9580 and
9590 which were barely audible
** POLAND [non]. PRES, 9450 via Germany, Dec 5 at 1343, best yet
heard here,
35433, and actually listenable, so I did for a while: report on
Polish health
care system, with speakers in Polish, voice-overs in English; 1347
mentioned
10:1 trade imbalance with China, and hopes to get Chinese aid for
railway. 1351
ID in old style, which I greatly prefer, as ``Polish Radio,
Warsaw``, but later
in passing said ``Polish Radio External Service``. Plugged
Multimedia show on
Wednesday (but, this *is* Wednesday), goodbyes but no formal
sign-off, and just
played high-intensity rock music until 1359* --- no Chopin or
Szymanowski here!
However, CRI musical prélude collided co-channel from *1357 for
two-minute
overlap, 1400 opening in Russian, more at CHINA; should be
crash-starting or at
least waiting until 1359
** ROMANIA [and non]. RRI, 7180, Dec 5 at 0646 in English with
contest info,
then report on real estate market in Romania; undermodulated but
enough carrier to make it listenable; no comparison in loudness, however, to
neighboring
Tunisia 7190 with its usual great music. At least, no roar on this
RRI
transmission
** THAILAND. R. Thailand, 9725 to SEAs/Au, in the clear Dec 5 at
1405 thanks to absence of TIRWR; SINPO 35523 with flutter. In World News mainly
about king`s birthday celebration to be in Nakhon Ratchasima at 19 hours tonight
(but it`s already after 21 local! --- more stale news?). 1411 into feature about
how H.M. is such a sportsman in many different fields
** U S A [and non]. KAIJ, 9480, Dec 5 at 1404 check, inaudible, and
not even a
trace of a carrier. Tho in skip zone, it`s usually detectable, so
wonder if off
the air. Same results at rechecks 1446 and 1608, when I did confirm
their
webcast was running. Yet
Harold Camping was audible at 1404 on 9485, which is Irkutsk aimed due south
** KOREA SOUTH [and non]. Dec 6 at 1328 on 4450, two-tone jamming,
repeating, weak, may have been originally from vocalized notes. Since a
clandestine from N to S Korea is here, we must assume the jamming is coming from
S Korea, putting it in the company of China, Cuba, etc., in trying to block Free
Speech. Aoki shows:
4450 KOREAN NAT.DEM.FRONT 0757-1400 1234567 Korean 15 ND Pyongyang
KRE
4450 KOREAN NAT.DEM.FRONT 2157-0400 1234567 Korean 15 ND Pyongyang
KRE
12533E3905 KNDF rel. KCBS (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. After being there just about every day for a week or
more, XEXQ not
audible on 6045, Dec 6 at 1332 check, altho XEOI was audible on
6010
** SPAIN [non]. REE Costa Rica relay, 15170, Dec 6 at 1340 starting
token M-F
Catalan news from Barcelona, after Diario Hablado in castellano;
1345:30
switched to Gallego, but studio source not mentioned, so really
Madrid? During
this there was co-channel QRM underneath producing a SAH of about 5
Hz.
According to Aoki, this would be RRI in Romanian, 250 kW, 285
degrees from
Galbeni, and per HFCC targeted at France, but carrying on to us,
tnx a lot! At
same time RRI`s roaring English was on 15105
** TURKEY. VOT`s Live from Turkey, starting at 1353 UT Thursday Dec
6, fair on 12035 but not 100% copy, partly thanks to the rapid slurred speech
and accents of the announcers, so I switched to webcast. This semi-week`s show
featured a conversation via satellite phone with a Turk from Seattle who is
*rowing* across the Pacific, and is currently near Xmas Island, on his way to
Australia where he will climb Mt. Kosciusko on his way across the continent
(portaging his boat?). Seems he is rowing and hiking around the world, in order
to inspire children to fulfill their dreams.
OK, but it seems to me he is running a fairly high risk of being
swamped if a
storm comes up before he can be rescued. He has been quite isolated
recently,
not seeing a single ship for weeks (or months?). Must be well
outside shipping
lanes, which aside from rescue possibilities is probably a good
idea to avoid
being run over.
VOT has been trying to get in contact with him for some time, and
finally
succeeded. Now they hope to do so every week. Seems his adventure,
including a Turkish flag aboard, is not getting the worldwide publicity it
deserves, and
indeed I had not heard of it until now. The website media coverage
page (in
English) shows plenty, but almost all only in Turkey.
As usual, could not understand names but was able to copy his
website,
http://around-n-over.org
where we find he is Erden Eruç and all the info about
this can be found there. He has quite a team backing him up,
already made it
across the Atlantic, and to the summit of Denali. I wonder if he is
also on HF
** U S A. WWCR, 5980, mixing product, 5890 leapfrog over 5935,
lasts until 1400 UT when both frequencies are still on; Dec 6 at 1318 had Power
Hour saying that UBL video featured an imposter. The spur fades in and out, but
enough to block DX on the frequency. It`s MUCH weaker than the fundamentals
which are extremely strong; 5980 may well be 80 dB down or more, but not enough
in this case. Or possibly it`s receiver overload, but I still hear it with max
attenuation** U S A. It`s Thursday, Dec 6, and time for another WHRA check to
discover what clandestines may be showing up. 12015 at 1845, unlike previous
days, gospel huxter in English, so I suppose Meselná Delina is back to half an
hour only at 1800 tho did not check in time. What about 11785 during the
following hour? At 1905 right past 1930, more English g.h. tho this hour
previously contained some African language on a Thursday. Could be they run
tests for potential clients, or the automation upscrews; who knows?
** ANGUILLA [and non]. DGS, 11775, Dec 7 at 1750 with considerable
QRM in
Luso-Portuguese. That`s VOA São Tomé at 138 degrees, 1700-1800.
VOA also
collides with The Valley at 2030-2100 in Hausa/French via
ST/Morocco
** CHINA. Seldom heard 5075, Chinese talk and music, Dec 7 at 1354,
bothered by ute pulses perpetually around this frequency. Per Aoki this is VOICE
OF PUJIANG at 1155-1600, Chinese/Amoy, 15 kW 182 degrees from Shanghai. At 1400
heard 3+1 (or was it 4+1?) timesignal, ID ``...guangbo diantai`` but missed the
important syllables.
Other Chinese audible on 60m: 5050 at 1356, M&W talk; as
always, 5030 Beijing, which I have yet to formally bother to log, at 1357 with
similar-sounding but not // talk on 4900.
Firedrake audible at the late hour of 1748 Dec 7 on 7415, and still
at 1802, so
it`s not against Sound of Hope since no 5-minute break at hourtop.
Instead,
it`s to block R. Free Asia in Chinese via Tinian, 319 degrees at
1600-1900.
That would also be a problem for WBCQ in North America, but not on
that early.
Altho authorized for 24 hours on 7415, current scheduled sign-on is
1900
** CUBA [and non]. R. Rebelde`s excellent music show ``Hecho en
Cuba``, Dec 7 at 1751 on 11655, but with SAH of about 7 Hz and weaker audio
mixing, no doubt RN Madagascar. But Rebelde has four //s: best here on 15370 and
17735; also weaker on 15570, mixing with WYFR on 17555. 1800 into major daily
newscast, Noticiero Nacional de Radio
** ETHIOPIA [and non]. Dec 7 at 1425 check, DW Amharic via Rwanda
was poor on 15620, no jamming audible, and none of the other frequencies audible
either
** MEXICO. Again Dec 7 at 1336 check, XEXQ missing from 6045, and
XEOI audible on 6010 at 1336, talking about Veracruz
** PRIDNESTROVYE. Radio PMR, barely audible on 7370 vs noise level
Dec 7 at 1802 in presumed English to Europe. Those further northeast are hearing
this
well, but it`s still tough here near high noon.
BTW, in the N Hemisphere we are now at our earliest sunsets of the
year, at
Enid 2316 UT, while our latest sunrises will be a month later in
early January,
at Enid 1344 UT instead of the current 1330. This anomaly is
because of Earth`s
oblateness; only in between these dates on the solstice do we get
our shortest
day, 1339-2320
** ROMANIA. RRI, 7180, Dec 7 at 0658 after English broadcast, IS
and this time
with the co-transmitted roar
** RUSSIA [and non]. 6075, Dec 7 at 1338, very distorted jazzy
piano music,
1343 Russian announcement. Per Aoki this is R. Rossii via
Petropavlovsk (Kam.).At 1347 also bothered by a het from unknown source on 6074;
1352 more distorted music
** THAILAND [non]. PMS Costa Rica was back up on 9725, Dec 7 at
1426, blocking Thailand`s English broadcast at 1400, except no trace of it
anyway this date
** U S A. WBCQ, 7415, presumed, on much later than usual probably
on ad-hoc,
why-not? basis, UT Fri Dec 7 at 0654, with Jumpin` Jack Flash by R.
Stones;
weak and fading. Or possibly a real pirate which decided to
reactivate the
frequency. Firedrake also on 7415 later: see CHINA
** U S A. 11975, big carrier and intermittent tone tests, 1753 Dec
7. Must be
VOA Greenville warming up for English to Africa at 1800-
** ZIMBABWE [non]. Trying to confirm reported new frequency 21495
Greenville
for VOA Studio 7 service, Dec 7 at 1755 I could barely detect a
carrier on
21495; and the only identifiable signal on 13m was WYFR on 21680,
very weak
too, so very little propagation on this band
** JAPAN [and non]. Sat Dec 8 at 1411 came upon World Interactive
just started
on NHK Warido Radio Japan, 7200. Quite good signal, and no need to
listen to
Sackville relay instead, but I checked 11705 anyway, still stronger
and running
a few words behind 7200, which is Yamata at 240 degrees to SE Asia,
so directly
off the back would be 60 degrees, not too far from their NAm
azimuths. The show
had several studio guests, the theme being Japanese people who
speak English
well, or are learning to, in order to further their careers. There
was a gaijin
in there too, a teacher or something. A prime example of cultural
differences,
as the show was full of exaggerated excitement, politeness, oohs
and aahs,
everybody talking at once, spurred on by the hostess, Kei (?),
excessive from
our point of view, and managing to convey very little useful info
except that
participants seemed to be having a wonderful time. She said this
edition was
also on video, so she had her makeup on. Maybe they combined it
with their Xmas party featuring a little booze. It certainly sounded like they
were high on
something
** LIBYA. 17725, Dec 8 at 1624, weak signal in French, must be V.
of Africa as
scheduled 1600-1700
** MEXICO. XEXQ, 6045, back on air after missing a couple days,
with Badinerie, Dec 8 at 1341; also heard XEOI, 6010, at 1405 with ``viva la música
de México``. Is this a total simulcast of XEOY 1000? They used to have some
separate SW programming. I wonder how XEOY does in the ratings in
the extremely competitive DF market
** U S A. WHRA, 15665, Sat Dec 8 at 1415 with gospel huxter, awful
quality
internet feed full of chirps, etc. Per WHRA online schedule this is
``Speaking
The Truth In Love, with Brother Phil``
** U S A. WBCQ observations Sat Dec 8: had not heard 17495-CLSB for
several
days, but audible with usual gospel huxter around 2030, but no sign
of it at
2148 check. At 2141, 9330-CLSB was a few hundred Hz off-frequency
to low side, did not try to measure, but big het from carrier closer to 9330,
presumably
Syria and with very little modulation of its own. This caused WBCQ
audio to be
off-pitch, but it was only Rod Hembree who is certain the End Times
Are Near,
so off-pitch fits; same situation an hour earlier. Could get usable
reception
of WBCQ 9330 on LSB or synch LSB. At 2038 on 7415, Allan Weiner
Worldwide
repeat was in progress, discussion with someone on phone about
antique radios.
According to WBCQ online program schedule this hour is supposed to
be The
Alternative Transportation Show, which I guess disappeared weeks
ago, and the
online schedule is much in need of updating.
BTW, radio six international, Scotland, was supposed to be back on
WBCQ, Sunday at 23-24, but their website Dec 8 says it was a no-show Sunday,
presumably referring to Dec 2, ``due to an administrative problem at our
transmitter facility``, but will try again on Dec 9. Once again, not reflected
in the WBCQ online schedule, which still claims The Checkerboard Lounge is on at
that time --- but also says last update was Sept 22! Well, at least the time
difference
between ET and UT was corrected since then
** ALBANIA. 13640, no sign of R. Tirana, scheduled in English to
NAm, Dec 10 at 1536 check. Must be down for maintenance? Antenna repairs?
** AUSTRALIA. RA continues to be inaudible on its normally potent
31m
frequencies: Dec 10 at 1347 could not hear on 9580 or 9590, but OK
on 6020.
Presumably near Summer Solstice, the 9 MHz signals are getting
absorbed rather than refracted where the first hop would normally be in our
direxion, the
pre-sunrise MUF being at its lowest, altho one might otherwise
conclude that
they are no longer on the air at all
** BULGARIA. R. Bulgaria, 15700, Dec 10 at 1356 with splatter out
to 15680 and
15720, peaking most at 15685 and 15715, bothering station on 15690
** CANADA. The Sackville transmitter relaying NHK on 11705, at 1416
Dec 10,
exhibited a lite squeal, a bad sign of impending trouble. Let`s
hope they don`t
let it deteriorate as much as WEWN and RHC. Was about immigration
in Sweden, so I checked Yamata 7200 to be sure it was really NHK programming
instead of a feed mixup at Sackville, and indeed it was // 7200 tho a couple
seconds out of synch
** CUBA. Once again, R. Havano Kubo`s weekly Esperanto broadcast
heard on 13760 in addition to 11760, Sunday Dec 9 at 1502, as they were giving
schedule, not mentioning 13760. But at 1507 recheck, 13760 was gone, so I
suppose it was just running over after previous transmission in Spanish, while
11760 continued
** CUBA. Surprised to find the DentroCuban Jamming Command running
at full
force on 7405, UT Mon Dec 10 at 0637 during the weekly truce when
R. Martí is
off the air; however, 6030 was clear of both
** CUBA. RHC stayed on late Dec 10 to celebrate Human Rights Day. Sí,
amigos, you heard me right, Human Rights Day, from the home of repression!
Noticed at 1505 on 15370, 13760 (an echo apart), 13680, 12000, 11805, 11760,
9550, YL going on and on in Spanish about how there are more HR in Cuba than
elsewhere, where people can get educated and medicated. It`s a north-vs-south
issue. The US blockade is ``genocidal`` --- then how come we are providing Cuba
with food, despite it? That`s the thanks we get? Another prime twisted example
of The Big Lie from our Commie neighbors. Nothing much said about freedom of the
press, other traditional human rights. This was apparently run-up to a speech by
some OM (not Fidel) which was underway at 1520; all gone at 1601 recheck.
Meanwhile, she threw in a frequency announcement at 1517 mentioning all of the
above plus 9600, which as usual was incorrect, no RHC there, fortunately for
XEYU 9599+
** ETHIOPIA [and non]. DW Amharic jamming check, Dec 10 at 1437:
15660, white noise jamming, some audio detectable; 15640, only jamming; 15620,
DW Rwanda good except for flutter, no jamming.
11900, Dec 10 at 1525, could hear talk mixed with white noise
jamming, i.e.
Tensae being blocked; not DRM
** GUIANA FRENCH. Strong DRM continues regular here on
15790-15795-15800, Dec 10 at 1355 and still at 1606. HFCC registered as
Issoudun, France TDF, but Guiana French has been missing from 17870-17875-17880.
15795 is STILL missing from DRM`s own schedule at http://www.drm.org/livebroadcast/livebroadcast.php
which claims ``Last modified: 2007.12.07,12:24.00#5#+00:00``and is
evidently identical to
http://www.vtplc.com/communications/product.asp?itemID=1021&catid=486
attributed to Klaus Schneider and presumably identical to yet
another version
http://www.baseportal.com/cgi-bin/baseportal.pl?htx=/drmdx/main&sort=kHz,UTC
and yet2 another version of the same data:
http://www.radionetherlands.nl/features/media/dossiers/drm_schedule.html
So, if Klaus Schneider doesn`t know about it, the info is not on
any of these
schedules. Perhaps we need a real alternative? Posts from Dec 3 to
Dec 6 on the drmna yg, however, confirm 15795 is Montsinéry, carrying RFO
Guyane programming for Martinique and Guadeloupe, so also favoring NAm in
azimuth
** POLAND [non]. PRES, 9450 via Wertachtal, GERMANY, Mon Dec 10 at
1324-1337 had a very welcome feature on Polish classical music, CDs recently
issued, etc. Good reception as we can expect only around Solstice
** SAUDI ARABIA. 13710, Arabic yelling, distorted, but fortunately,
undermodulated, Dec 10 at 1523. Rather reminded me of Brother Scare
100 kHz
higher via Germany. 13710 listed as Riyadh, 295 degrees.
15205, huge buzz overriding muezzin, --- Allah`ll get `em for that
--- 1602 Dec
10, also bothering 15210 WYFR with Open Forum translation into
Arabic, as if
any Arab would care what Harold Camping thinks, and extending down
past 15200.
15205 is the terribly defective BSKSA transmitter, Riyadh at 320
degrees toward
us, no thanks. Don`t their engineers have any professional
standards? Is no one
in the chain of command capable of making a decision to turn it off
unless
fixed? Not // BSKSA 15435 Arabic talk, VG modulation there
** SWEDEN [non]. R. Sweden had an excellent report on the Nobel
Prize award
ceremonies, on their Dec 10 broadcast, 1530 via Canada 15240. Catch
a repeat if you can, or on demand
** U S A. WBCQ, 17495-CUSB, Sunday Dec 9 at 1510 discussing
overnight delivery and blown speaker. Not Al Weiner show. Scheduled as The Zeph
Report, 14-18 UT Sundays only. A few minutes later it was back to
gospel-huxterism. There was another signal underneath causing a slight ripple
against WBCQ`s reduced carrier, but not like the 9330 collision where they were
a few hundred Hz apart. That of course is Democratic Voice of Burma, via
Madagascar, daily 1430-1530 on 17495, as EiBi reminds us
** U S A. KAIJ, missing from 5755, at various nighttime chex Dec
8-9, and also
from 9480 in daytime. Still no sign of KAIJ on 5755 or 9480 UT Dec
10. However,
the webstream is running normally, with scheduled programming
checked Dec 10 at 1630. This is not too surprising, since that comes out of the
studio/HQ in
Murfreesboro TN.
George McClintock tells me that he has not been to the transmitter
site, but
info from Two If By Sea president Mike Parker is that: on the
weekend of Nov 30
there was apparently a lightning strike, which melted wiring in the
conduit, so
the remote site near Frisco TX has been without power. Delays in
getting it
back are caused by the need to get bids from contractors, actually
do the work,
get it inspected, etc., etc., at some distance from The Metroplex.
It is
believed the transmitter, with surge protection, was not damaged.
Will be back
on ASAP. This problem has nothing to do with rumors that KAIJ is
being sold.
George adds that since the datalink company changed hands, there
has been
better service and less downtime in getting the program feed from
TN to TX
** VENEZUELA [non]. Another no-show for ``Aló, Presidente``,
Sunday Dec 9, the first day of UT -4:30, so perhaps HCF was confused and didn`t
know what time it was. At 1506 checked all the usual frequencies via Cuba,
17750, 13750, 13680, 11875, 11670 and nothing there. However, an hour earlier I
did hear presumed RHC mixing with WEWN on 11875, so A,P probably started at
usual 1400 and was cancelled during the following hour
** AFGHANISTAN [non]. Wolfgang Büschel had been reporting R. Solh
on new 13830 // 15265, but no sign of it here when checked Dec 12 at 1425, Dec
13 at 1430; still on 15265 as usual
** ALBANIA. Missing the day before, R. Tirana back on 13640, Dec 11
at 1531
check giving usual English transmission schedule; undermodulated
and flutter on
signal, so hard to hear. BTW, members of the dxld yahoogroup can
now see a
folder of photos from R. Tirana, including the Director Ms Zamira
Koleci,
Monitoring Center head Mrs Drita Çiço, the two English announcers
Klara and
Artan, and the transmitters
** AUSTRALIA. Reception of R. Australia at 1500 Dec 11: best on
7240, next best on 5995, and a poor third, 9590
** CUBA. This is hard to quantify, but it sounds to me like the
DentroCuban
Jamming Command has stepped up its intensity, as heard Dec 11 at
0707 on 5980 and 6030 against R. Martí, a more solid ``wall of noise``. Anyone
else notice this?
** GUIANA FRENCH. DRM on 9455-9460-9465 where I had not noticed it
before, Dec 12 at 0649; not NZ since that is still on 9865-9870-9875. 9460 was
registered as 345 degrees from TDF GUF at 05-07 from 11 to 13 December only, so
presumably you will no longer hear it; what programming was it carrying, and
why?
After a few weeks on 15790-15795-15800, which replaced
17870-17875-17880, DRM missing Dec 12 and 13 but at 1438 Dec 13, instead on new
13860-13865-13870, which I can only assume is the latest replacement. But is it
on the official
DRM schedules? Of course not! Nor in HFCC. More RFO Guyane
programming? Nothing about this yet on the DRMNA yg. I am amused when I find a
DRM transmission just by tuning around, without even a DRM receiver, before
those who are supposedly ``in the loop``.
BTW, Sofia, Bulgaria is registered for DRM at 04-14 on
13865-13870-13875, but
AFAIK is yet to start any DRM
** INDONESIA. VOI back on 9526.0 after many weeks` absence, with
hum and het from something on 9525, Dec 13 at 1441 with Qur`an, 1449 to OM talk
in Arabic, morphing into Indonesian but still about Islam frequently mentioning
that and Allah. 1500 no ID heard but news headlines, 1501 sign-off Suara
Indonesia by YL, anthem to 1504* The 14-15 hour of VOI is scheduled in
Indonesian, and I
thought it might be back on at 1600 for Arabic, but not heard then.
Earlier
language hours include 08 English, 09 Malay, 10 Thai, 11 Mandarin,
12 Japanese, 13 Korean. Tnx to tip from Ron Howard who was hearing 9526 again
the day before at an earlier hour.
Since VOI has been on 9526 (when active) instead of 9525 for quite
some time,
it can hardly be an accidental slip of the finger, but why? Other
stations have
been caught deliberately one or two kHz off-frequency, such as
Syria on 782,
and in 7-150, Pakistan on 830. Can these be misguided management
decisions to be on a ``different`` frequency than other stations and thus avoid
interference, while really causing more interference?
** MEXICO. XEOI, 6010, weak Dec 13 at 0719 giving website
http://www.radiomil.com.mx
with a subaudible heterodyne of about 2.5 Hz,
presumably from Colombia which on this occasion was even weaker. My
congrats to both of them for getting their frequencies so close, instead of the
formersituation of several hundred Hz apart, always causing an audible
heterodyne.
From website we learn that XEOY`s slogan is ``Vive México`` (not
Viva), which
means Mexico Lives (not Long Live Mexico). Here`s their program
schedule
displaying current day unless you click on another:
http://www.radiomil.com.mx/v2/programacion.php
** TURKEY. Live from Turkey, Thu Dec 13 at 1400 on 12035, but
switched to
webcast so I could hear every word; three announcers in studio
trashing Pres.
Sarkozy for latest conflict with France over EU admission, and also
David
Crystal for his published comments, but they still want him to call
in again
** U K. BBCWS, 5875, VG reception with news Dec 13 at 0648-0659:30*
after
program promo at 0659 with time only in CET! Do they really think
everyone
listening to this frequency will be in the UT+1 zone? More
management ignorance of SW. This is Rampisham at 62 degrees, but plenty of
signal way over here, scheduled at 05-07
** U S A. WBCQ`s new ``Area 51`` program starts Friday Dec 21, and
will be 7
days at 2200-2400 on 5110. Allan Weiner confirms that WORLD OF
RADIO will be included, Fridays at 2330 UT
** U S A. AFN, 7811-USB, STILL with audio cutting out every few
seconds, Dec 12 at 0700 during AP Radio News; // 5446 from same Saddlebunch Keys
site (not ``Key West`` as AFN claims), was weaker but not breaking up
** VENEZUELA. 5000, Dec 11 at 0710, could barely hear some Spanish
under WWV and WWVH, and the pips seemed well synchronized. I can only assume it
be the sporadic YVTO Cagigal, but I would really like to hear a clear
half-hour-offset time announcement from them
** AFGHANISTAN [non]. Wolfgang Büschel`s reports of new 13830 for
R. Solh were before 1400 UT only. But Dec 14 I checked at 1346 and still nothing
on 13830, as I was reconfirming on 15265 yet yet yet again that at that very
hour, R.
Solh is still playing the same sticking music CD as it has for
months now. The
new 13830 broadcast is axually only at 1230-1330 via Rampisham
** AUSTRALIA. RA propagating again on its best frequency for North
America
[not], 9580, Dec 14 at 1358. Unfortunately, I tuned in only seconds
before it
went to a fragment of W. Matilda, interrupting programming, and
off, leaving
quite weaker 9590 to continue
** GUIANA FRENCH. Presumed site for unlisted DRM,
13860-13865-13870, still
strong Fri Dec 14 at 1348 check, but missing Sat Dec 15 at 1439.
Probably
another M-F only operation, or channel could be gone after a brief
test period.
TDF now plans to be running DRM at any hour on 5050-5055-5060 for
domestic
coverage
** INDONESIA. VOI, 9526.0, lasts another day, Dec 14 at 1359
wrapping Korean
with e-mail address voi @ rri-online.com pronounced more or less in
English,
and into Indonesian
** IRAN. 13790, muezzin fair at 1350 UT Fri Dec 14. HFCC says this
is Iran`s
Arabic service, 0530-1430, 500 kW, 178 degrees from Kamalabad
** MALAYSIA. Usually all I hear is a weak het around 6050, but in
the absence
of XEXQ 6045, Dec 15 at 1409, a muezzin was doing his thing on
approx. 6049.7, 1411 into talk in presumed Malay, then some music.
Aoki, which does not bother with decimal off-frequencies, shows
6050 only as
RTMalaysia Sarawak, at Sibu, 10 kW in Malay. If anybody posted a
B-07 RTM
schedule, it escaped us, but it includes several wooden
registrations,
including TWO sites on this frequency, both Sibu at 0200-1500 10
kW, and Kajang (Kuala Lumpur) at 0200-1700 with 50 kW. Ron Howard measured the
off-frequency one on 6049.63 back on Nov 7 and said it was Suara Islam/Voice of
Islam via RTM at 1540-1635 so that would presumably be KL and NOT Sarawak
** MEXICO. 6045, XEXQ is back again, Dec 14 at 1355 check with
classical; not
very strong. Gone again, Dec 15 at 1400 check
** SAINT HELENA. R. Saint Helena Day 2007, Dec 15: I`ve heard it
several times before, so did not try this year until 2151 when it was supposed
to be aimed at ENAm starting at 2145. Immediately on tuning in 11092.5-USB,
heard an ID, but it was very weak and nothing further intelligible on the YB-400
with indoor wire wrapped several times around the ceiling of one room.
Experimenting with other receiver and antenna combinations, best results not on
the FRG-7, but on the DX-398 with primary E-W exterior longwire, so stayed with
that. Did not get much better, mostly music, occasional ute QRM such as at 2200,
so quit at 2207, and resumed at 2241 in preparation for the WNAm beam to start
at 2245.
By 2241 signal was considerably better, music playing seemed to
have reverb.
2242 giving edress which I could not copy, music. I had to back off
the RF gain
to avoid puffing, but this does not mean the signal was extremely
strong,
steady at 8 out of 14 bars on the scale when RF gain at max. 2247 a
phone call
on the air with American accent but could not tell who it was; he
said
reception was very good. 2248, Carole King`s ``You`re So Far
Away``. I had not
noticed any change in strength around 2245, perhaps because in CNAm
we are
splitting the difference between their ENAm and WNAm aimings. 2252
mentioned Western North America, and then full ID with MW and SW frequencies,
``annual broadcast``, and all the different targets. 2255 ``God Is Watching Us``
tune; 2300 giving phone number, could not copy, more talk, marred at 2304 and
more strongly at 2305 by that ute QRM of a tone and then several seconds of
``running water`` noise. 2307 a country music song by a woman, and I quit. Nice
to hear RSH again, but it`s about time to try a different frequency. Quick
recheck at 0045 Dec 16: not audible
** THAILAND. Another lucky day for R. Thailand`s English at
1400-1430, as Costa Rica was absent from 9725, Dec 14 at 1416, but even so
signal was only poor with flutter
** TURKEY. VOT, 12035 better than // 11735, Friday Dec 14 at 1410
with
``Turkish Capital`` program, not sure of title, but was about
different
companies and what they produce, e.g. fruit juice, tiles, bandages.
Fascinating
** U S A. Contrary to usual Dec-Feb scheduling, WWCR has remained
on 15825
during the 21-22 UT hour instead of 7465, including WORLD OF RADIO
Fridays at 2130. We hope they`ll go back to 7465 for better coverage; discussed
further in DX Listening Digest 7-152
** ANGUILLA. DGS/PMS, 11775 missing Dec 17 at 1450; I suppose may
have stayed on night frequency 6090 but too late to hear that here. Dec 18 at
1425, 11775 was back
** AUSTRALIA. In our summer, RA is very reliable late at night here
on 19m, but
it`s been quite a while since the MUF has held that far up. So it
was notable
Dec 18 at 0645 that RA was audible, tho not very strong on 15515
and 15160;
however not on 15240 where it should also be from Shepparton.
Another T-E was audible on 15255, Channel Africa. Note the high K-index of 4
** ETHIOPIA [non]. Monday Dec 17 at 1900 on WHRA 11785, ID
definitely starts
``Dimtse Tewahedo …`` as in the WHRA schedule
** GERMANY [non]. 15620 at 1433 Dec 18, ``Deutsche Welle, Amharic
Service`` as they were giving P- and e-mail addresses, pronounced in English!
This seems to be a regular ID time in this service. Fair signal via Rwanda, no
jamming
audible, but 15660 with usual white noise. I wonder if the Germans
and
Ethiopians have reached some kind of accommodation on this issue,
or the latter
just ran out of jamming transmitters
** GUIANA FRENCH. TDF DRM missing from last three (nine?) known
frequencies, 13860-13865-13870, 15790-15795-15800 and 17870-17875-17880, at 1455
Mon Dec 17, ditto Dec 18, so I suspect the DRM transmitter is again trying much
lower frequencies in daytime, as now registered and approved for 5050-5055-5060,
24 hours. Nor heard Sat & Sun Dec 15 & 16, but that`s routine
** JAPAN [non]. NHKWRJ, 11705 via Canada, Tue Dec 18 at 1420 had a
talk about some new Japanese technology to detect land mines, by picking up
resonant frequencies of certain explosives, including 0.85 and 3.4 MHz; this was
a repeat from Sept. Need to search out the details, but I assume doing this
around Denver or Boston would not work too well
** LAOS [non]. Hmong Lao Radio produces some amazing and exotic
sounds, via WHRI 11785; Dec 16 until 1427 some tones which I think were
originating from a human voice modulated thru a tube or something. Must be heard
to be
appreciated; Sat & Sun 1400-1500 plus Hmong World Christian
Radio after 1500
** OKLAHOMA. Startled to hear a US talk show on 4800, Dec 16 at
0651, with
numerous commercial, toll-free numbers, from Business Talk Radio
Net. Could it
be XERTA reactivated on its new frequency, and converted into a
`border`
station for the US audience? No! At 0659 a local Enid ad and ID for
KGWA, so
it`s the 5TH harmonic of 960. Tho harmonics 2 and 3 are always
there on 1920
and 2880, I have never heard it on 4800 in frequent 60m bandscans.
This signal
was also suspect in that it was at absolutely constant strength and
did not
seem subject to preselector peaking. Perhaps current snow and ice
at
transmitter caused this to get out, or a temporary receiver/antenna
problem, as
fortunately not heard since
** U S A. After the Dec 14 airing which publicized the imminent
Radio Saint
Helena Day, we notified WWCR that Mundo Radial is to be canceled.
What would replace it? Monday Dec 17 at 2215 on 7465, we found Frecuencia Al Día
in progress until 2230, so presumably the half-hour show started at 2200. The
other opening is Friday 2215
** U S A. AFN, 12133.5 had audio dropouts exactly // 7811, Dec 18
at 0646,
unlike 5446.5 with same programming but no cuts
** VENEZUELA [non]. Aló, Presidente, via Cuba 11875, once again
Sunday Dec 16 was colliding with
WEWN in Spanish at 1430. The A,P audio feed on 11875 was an echo apart from //
13750 and 17750. The other usual parallels, 11670 and 13680 were missing this
date. Still on 17750, 13750 and 11875 only at 1457 check when a clip of HCF
speech with motto ``Patria, socialismo, o muerte, ¡venceremos!``(This exceeds
Fidel, who doesn`t mention socialism, strangely enough.) At 1511, HCF was
apparently on live, reading something from El Universal. Same three frequencies
on at 1539.
By sheer luck, I tuned into RNV CI via Cuba just as they went into
a rare and
unpredictable English segment, Monday Dec 17 at 1515 on 11680. It
was about
Belarus, Lukashenko`s visit to Anzoátegui and how Venezuela and
Belarus are
such good friends (authoritarians must stick together); the
translation was too
literal and heavily accented, but we appreciate the effort. If only
we knew
when to expect English. 1521 back into Spanish with song about
``madera
preciosa``
** AUSTRALIA [and non]. RA, 6020, still has co-channel QRM from
that
motor-boating defective transmitter, believed to be Vietnam, Dec 20
at 1340
check
** CUBA. Bandscan of 13 MHz, Dec 19 at 1430 found Habana`s three
frequencies from two transmitters all missing --- no RHC 13760, no CRI English
13740, no leapfrog on 13720; however, 13680 RHC was on as usual. 1442 recheck,
all were back on
** MEXICO. Dec 20 check at 1340 found XEXQ still missing from 6045
as it has
been for several days; XEYU not detectable either on 9599+, but at
1911 it was
poorly audible with classical music
** U S A. Surprised to find big collision between two US SW
stations on 7465,
Dec 20 at 0642; they were at roughly equal very strong level,
taking turns
dominating, roughly 10 Hz apart in a big SAH. Both with preachers,
Christians
vs Christians! One changed programs at 0644 from Midnight Cry to
Pastor
Shockley (sp?), from the Key West Church of God; the other did not.
The other I
couldn`t help but recognize as Pastor Pete Peters. Oh, oh, he`s
supposed to be
on 5890 via WWCR. Checked that frequency: vacant. So WWCR had
stayed on 7465 long past the scheduled switch to 5890 at 0400, and WHRA was the
other one on 7465, scheduled 0500-0700 per WHR site, and then off the air, but
registered available until 0900. At 0658 I sure thought it was a WHRI ID
instead, then off without the usual `next frequency` announcement, leaving WWCR
in the clear. Sometime between then and the next time I checked, 1339, WWCR had
switched to 5890 with usual Power Hour. Adam Lock was on the phone until hourtop
in his post-WWCR job promoting Berkey water softeners
** VENEZUELA [non]. 15290, RNV via Cuba, Dec 18 at 1916 was just
open carrier along with a lite squeal. 1918 came on the audio, closing program
``La Mujer Venezolana``, 1919 into perpetually years-out-of-date transmission
schedule always starting with San Francisco 11 am on 13740, i.e. this very
transmission which has not really been on 13740 since 2004 or 2005 at latest
** ZAMBIA. CVC news in English, 1900 Dec 18 on 13590, 1905 into DJ;
no signals from Europe were making it at this time on this band, further
evidence that the site is really Zambia
** ALBANIA. R. Tirana, 7430, VG with instrumental music, Dec 21 at
2124. This
is scheduled English to Europe but there were no announcements at
all before
2127:30*, having cut to the RT theme music at 2127. Meanwhile, I
again looked
for the // 9915 to NAm, but not a trace of even a carrier there.
Not much else
from Europe audible on 31m, either; Greece [q.v.] poor on 9420, but
also VG
signals on 40m
** EGYPT. Looking for the latest sensation, Nile Valley Radio on
9250, Dec 21
at 2126 and again 2145: barely a trace of a carrier here. Not much
was
propagating from Eu/ME at that hour on that band, Greece poor on
9420
** GREECE. ERT had very strong S9+25 signals on its two 40m
frequencies, Dec 21 at 2122, but both were badly undermodulated: 7475 barely
modulated at all, but 7450 considerably better
** RUSSIA. 6075, at 1359 Dec 23, in 49m bandscan I noticed a
somewhat rumbly signal from Pet-Kam, but something even stranger at 1400-1401: a
Morse code message, ending in K. This was tone modulation, not carrier
on-and-off,
presumably from the 6075 transmitter just before it did go off a
minute later.
It was sent at quite a slow rate, and I might have been able to
copy it if I
had not been taken by surprise and my attention split (CBS Sunday
Morning was
just starting!). Let us try again for this strange anomaly and
decode what they
are saying, probably in Russian involving Cyrillic code characters
** U S A. WWCR-1 was still on 15825 instead of 7465, during the
correct WORLD OF RADIO 1387, Friday Dec 21 at 2130. After 2200, again on Friday
Dec 21, Frecuencia al Día instead of Mundo Radial
WWCR-2, with DGS, stayed on 5935 well past its scheduled switch to
13845 at
1400, Dec 22: still going at 1419, but not at 1457 recheck, so made
the change
sometime between those hours.
Also on 5890 with WWCR-4, PPP, at 1419, but this one lasts until
1600
currently. BTW, remark in previous report about Adam Lock on the Power Hour had him one hour too early; that was up until hourtop 1500
** BELGIUM. 9970 not often heard here, but when it is, has to be
RTBF, the
frequency`s only occupant at any time, direct from Wavre, not a
relay as in the
case of VRT. Dec 25 at 1444 a familiar novelty song, 1446
announcement in
** TUNISIA [and non]. I often listen to RTT 7190 around 0630-0700
for its Arab
music tho it`s hardly soporific. For the first time on Dec 24 at
0643-0650+ I
heard some deliberate QRHam, some guy exactly on frequency as BFO
for his SSB counts, ``1, 2, 3, 4, 5; 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, testing…` Never heard him
say anything
else or ID. This raises an interesting question. Yes, hams in
Americas are
totally free to use this frequency, but are they totally free to
use it in a
one-way 5+ minute `test` without ID? Thinly disguised jamming.
BTW, Tunisia is not breaking any rules; this transmission per HFCC
at 04-08 is
265 degrees to CIRAF 37, which is Algeria and Morocco; it is just
bleeding over
here, even tho its 500 kW often makes it the best signal inside the
41 mb in
OK. Unlike Croatia/Germany, Slovakia, etc., which really do
broadcast to
Americas inside our 40m hamband
** U S A. Don`t usually hear WBCQ 17495 on weekday mornings, but
there it was Dec 24 at 1445 with GFRN // 9330. Nothing from DVOBurma via
Madagascar on 17495 this date
** U S A. Dimitse Tewahedo started as usual Monday Dec 24 at 1900
on WHRA
11785; they play a lot of music, good value for money? But at 1905
the
transmission cut off, abruptly back to WHRA in English, announcing
frequency
change to 7520! OCS, then claimed they were ``now on 7520`` but
really still on
11785 which had just opened 6 minutes earlier. 1907 into WHR
English gospel
music fill programming; still the same at 1944 recheck. Obviously,
some glitch
caused the program automation to run the QSY announcement at 1905
instead of 1958. Was there any human oversight to prevent or fix this ASAP? Of
course not! Will the Ethiopians get their money back?
** U S A [non]. The only somewhat unusual signal on 25m, Dec 24 at
1850 was
rather muffled talk in unID language, on 11805. Then at 1856
mentions Family
Radio, and Oakland. O no, not again. Did not recognize it as
Swahili, but
listed as such via Madagascar. I am also disappointed that even RNW
availablizes its resources to this wacky ministry, seemingly bent
on
broadcasting via every conceivable SW relay site. This is the 50 kW
transmitter
aimed 320 degrees for EAf, so not too far from our azimuth too.
Note: after
1900 RN uses the same frequency in English, but on much different
heading, and via South Africa instead! The least RN could get out of this would
be some
broadcasts via Okeechobee
** CHAD. I`ve heard it too, no doubt, RNT reactivated on 4905: best
60m signal
by far outside NAm, Dec 26 at 0605-0620, mostly talk in uncertain
language,
maybe part Arabic, part French, with bits of music. Nothing
resembling an ID
heard. Mauritania might have competed if it were audible on 4845.
Furthermore
the `4905` signal was a smidgin below frequency as others have
reported minus
30-40 Hz or so; while I couldn`t be precise to two decimal places,
I could tell
it was off, using the YB-400 simply by zeroing the BFO on WWV, and
then
stepping from 4905 up and down 1 kHz. The het at 4904 was
noticeably lower in
pitch than at 4906
** CUBA [non]. Tnx to a tip from Giampiero Bernardini, R. República
heard on
reactivated 6185 at 0240 check Dec 28 over DentroCuban Jamming
Command. Must be a fairly recent change, and we can say goodbye to any chance of
hearing R. Educación, México during this bihour. RR started B-07 on 6100 at
02-04, and was there the last time I checked, having forced Vatican via Canada
to move to 6040
** MAURITANIA. R. Mauritanie seems back up to full strength after
missing a few
weeks, or on but with low modulation per other reports. Dec 27 at
0625, found
4845 with OM vocal chants predominantly at a single pitch, shifting
irregularly
up or down a note. 0631 announcement by YL and the chanter (or
someone else?) speaking for a moment, then choral music. Roughly same level as
Chad 4905. However, Ndjamena is much further east than Nouakchott, by 31 degrees
of longitude, so propagation from 4845 should hold up about two hours longer
than 4905. Nouakchott is 16 degrees west long., which should really put it in
the UT -1 timezone. It is further west than any part of Ireland, let alone
Portugal,
lines up with eastern Iceland
** U S A. KAIJ remains off the air from 9480 and 5755. On Dec 27,
GM George
McClintock told me that the owner of Two If By Sea, Mike Parker,
has not
informed him of his intentions for KAIJ, but he is currently
working on higher
priority projects. He has not revealed to anyone when it will
return to the
air.
George adds that it`s sad that KAIJ is off SW, since it was so
successful in
Asia, getting a lot of mail for broadcasts in English, including
from people in
China well-educated in English, and was just starting to broadcast
in Mandarin.
George is not aware of any imminent sale of the station, despite
rumors about
this.
For the time being the webcast is still running, altho it may not
be updated.
WOR 1386 ran Thu Dec 27 at 1600 instead of the new 1388, or even
last week`s
1387, but they have agreed to put the latest WOR on successive
webcasts, such
** AUSTRIA [and non]. Tuning around for something to monitor at UT
+1
yearchange, Dec 31 at 2250, found Ö1 on 5945 with runup, but
before 2300 I
switched to better signal on // 6155, where there was a countdown,
full strike
of some clock, and then --- what else --- ``On the Beautiful Blue
Danube``, no
doubt by the VPO, but it had not finished when transmission cut off
abruptly at
2308* which is precisely the time 6155 normally closes, per Aoki.
Just this
once, couldn`t they have made an exception? BTW, once it was off, I
could hear
lite DentroCuban jamming, a prélude to the fierce full force
pending at 0000
when Radio República comes onto the frequency
** BENIN. ORTB, 5025, on late for NYE beyond normal listed 2300*
Unfortunately, it was for naught, as all it did was QRM Cuba with a fast SAH and
some audio, Dec 31 at 2340 and still Jan 1 at 0023, 0038
** BURKINA FASO. 5030 normally runs until 2400, but NYE Dec 31 it
was on later; Jan 1 at 0001 in French with RTB`s resolutions to serve the
public, 0003 choral hilife singing group; still on at 0023 and 0038 chex
** CANADA. CBC North Quebec, 9625, Jan 1 at 0104 with local ID and
address in Montreal, 0105 part two of Dispatches. Fair signal but no QRM and
less than
full modulation was adequate for comprehension
** CHAD. RNT, 4905 was on late NYE, Dec 31 at 2334 with speech in
Arabic? Long pause during which I could enjoy CODAR unobstructed; after a minute
announcer called ``alo?`` and then talked on phone in French to someone with
gunfire(?) in background. No, he said the explosions were ``feux d`artifice``.
Next check at 0014 Jan 1, 4905 was off. Brian Alexander says it went off at 0006
** CHINA [and non]. MUF was really down Jan 1 at 0045, not much
propagating on 25m, but good signal on 11640 with Blue Danube version, la-la-la
singalong,
0046 Chinese announcement. Believe this was CNR-1, as jammer to CBS
Taiwan, beaming 310 degrees into Mainland, per Aoki. Neither registered in HFCC,
as the ChiCom are ashamed to admit what they are doing, and Taiwan perhaps
pretends there is no such service but that doesn`t keep it from being jammed to
the point that no sign of CBS was audible here
** CUBA. Wires, or feedlines, were apparently crossed again Sunday
morning Dec 30: at 1426, I found that the Aló, Presidente program from
Venezuela was on 13760 which normally carries the regular RHC service. 13760 was
// 13750, and weak 13680, 11670 which were an echo apart, as well as 11875 under
WEWN. 17750 inaudible if on, under WYFR. RHC itself was still going with
separate program on 11760, 11805, 12000, 15370
** CUBA [and non]. DentroCuban Jamming Command, 5890 // 5940, Jan 1
at 0031 mixing with subversive music on VOA Spanish service, and still at 0109
recheck. Third frequency 9885 was not audible at first and barely audible at
second check. Why doesn`t the USA jam RHC with some of our spare transmitter
capacity? It would only be fair. Have a real happy 49th
** CUBA. RHC, 9550 // 9600, the latter with hefty het from XEYU,
Jan 1 at 0100
with 8 pm timecheck, programa gigante de fin del año, which would
be on until
0400 UT or local midnight, as the announcer was still confused
about DST/ST/UT time conversion. Semi-retired announcer Manolo de la Rosa joined
in for the occasion. Would this be a nice non-political, musical celebration? Of
course not! Into year-in-review news starting with the 5-yearly general elexions
in
Cuba. And if I had stayed tuned a few minutes longer, I am certain
I would have
heard for the millionth time about Posada Carriles and the Cinco
Presos
** GERMANY [non]. If it`s Deutsche Welle, it can`t be Germany. Dec
31 at 2310
on 6075 via Rampisham and/or Sines per Aoki, feature in German
about immigrants and how those speaking various native languages are learning
German. Heard the same thing exactly two hours later on 9545 Ascension
** IRAN. V. of Justice, 7160, 0144 Jan 1, M&W alternating with
news in English,
mostly about Iraq, casualty count, US politics, Pakistan. 0150
segment
tentatively called ``Iran`s Parliamentary Spoxeman Remarx``. Sounds
like they
are obsessed with the US occupation of Iraq. Good, clear audio, and
impressive
signal, unlike // 6120 barely audible, QRM
** JAPAN. This year, NHK cut back SW coverage of their NY Eve
special to only
two SW frequencies, for Asia. But I could hear one of them, 9750 at
1432 Dec 31
with mix of pop music, live audience response and talk,
story-telling? in
Japanese only. Unlike the last few years, however, they actually
stayed on the
