giovedì 12 marzo 2009

Glenn Hauser logs March 11-12, 2009

** BIAFRA [non!]. As mentioned before, Aoki lists V. of Biafra International via WHRI, Wednesdays only at 20-21 UT on 11785. Just as I suspected, this is nonsense, tho it probably appeared on the WHRI schedule at some point. Checked at 2003 Wed March 11, 11785 was on the air but with American gospel huxter about Armageddon, Israel and icecaps, ``Politics and Religion`` show.

Now to check Friday whether the real VOBI broadcast on 15665 moves from 2000 to start at 2100 as has been reported. Yes, finally got into the WHR program schedule which shows:
2100-2200 5:00 - 6:00 PM Fri VOBI Broadcasts Oguchi Nkwocha 15.665 MHz (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** INDONESIA. 3325, RRI Palangkaraya, only signal making it on 90m, March 12 at 1258, even CHU having outfaded by now. Chanting with string instrument, 1300 announcement in Indonesian, not Pidgin, so rules out co-channel PNG on this occasion; I think they mentioned Radio Republik Indonesia. 1302 to YL singing with rustic instrument, rather like Hmong Lao Radio. Still at 1320 with romantic music, by when another 90m was audible on 3385, no doubt PNG, q.v., as the Indo there has not been reported in a longtime.

Of the 75m Indonesians, only hearing 3976 RRI Pontianak, March 12 at 1308 YL speaking Indonesian, ham QRM not only SSB but some CW too, not supposed to be on this bandpart --- possibly that was a sound effect from RRI itself?

Strangely enough, 4790 RRI Fak2 NOT audible this morning, at 1311 check when compatriots were in on 75 and 90m. Off the air, or strange propagation/MUF?

Then checked VOI on 9525, March 12 at 1339, in English hour, YL talking over xylophone music concluding Indonesian Wonders show; couldn`t catch title of next one, but I thought I heard her mention the ``Indonesian sub-continent``, a term usually reserved for India. Usual hum, and some flutter on the signal, plus adjacent squeezes (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** KOREA NORTH. After getting Indonesia on 3325 I had to see what else was incoming on even lower frequencies. Nothing on 120m from Australia or North Korea, but KCBS P`yongyang was audible on 2850 with Korean talk at 1306.

Same-sounding roar of noise jamming on 3912 and 3985 against the two clandestines out of the South, March 12 at 1307 check. Much weaker than JOZ on 3925 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** NETHERLANDS [non]. Happy Station Jammed --- Surprise, surprise, the DentroCuban Jamming Command has not relented for this momentous occasion. WRMI just barely audible on 9955 at 0101:40 UT March 12, when a very late timesignal could be heard, apparently as part of the program, but the jamming pulses were too much.

Hey Keith, why didn`t you get your old pals at RHC to turn it off? The webcast server was also full, silly me, not having tried to connect a good many minutes early. I can`t recall ever having had this problem with WRMI before. What is its capacity? Dragan Lekic says the server status shows it`s only ten!

WRMI 9955 reception was OK at 15-16 UT March 12, but I needed to have the computer on, which puts additional noise on SW reception, so fortunately the WRMI webcast was coming thru, tho hiccuping/buffering repeatedly for more than the final half hour.

Sadly, Dick Speekman has just died in South Australia; I participated in DX Juke Box when he was hosting it on Radio Netherlands. Keith Perron made a last-minute change to the 1500 airing to include a greeting from Dick he had standing by for a later broadcast, but that excludes whoever occupied those minutes in the 0100 airing. Keith said the next Happy Station would be in two weeks (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 3385, presumed R. East New Britain, March 12 at 1321, music with a beat. This was 35 minutes after Enid sunrise. It had not been audible earlier as I was getting 3325 Indonesia, q.v. (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** RUSSIA. VOR, English to NAm, classical music feature with super signal on 9840, UT Thu March 12 at 0541, // much weaker 9855. You`d think there would not be such a disparity between Pet-Kam on 9840, 250 kW, 70 degrees, and Vladivostok, 250 kW at 50 degrees; tho Vladivostok is quite a bit further. I would say the 9840 reception rivaled even 7335 via Guiana French which had somewhat crisper audio (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** RUSSIA. R. Rossii, Pet/Kam, missing from 6075, March 12 at 1333 check. No signal at all, and this has been a regular until 1400* Perhaps they have closed it down because of the growing warble / motorboating problem, but hope it`s back soon (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** TAIWAN. RTI`s Japanese service, 9735, 250 kW at 45 degrees also favoring US, March 12 at 1345 sounded OK on the fundamental, but could not help but notice that there were hets of identical pitch on weak 9730 and 9740 signals, and therefore assume they were spurs from this transmitter (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** TURKEY [non]. VOT relay via Canada, 7325, is STILL NOT IN ENGLISH, March 12 at 0405 check, good signal with Turkish talk, music. At least I think it`s Turkish; sure isn`t English. Could be a related Turkic language VOT broadcasts in, but none such scheduled, and in fact Turkish itself is taking a 1-hour break on SW frequencies direct, per WRTH 2009 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A [non]. 4960, VOA French, fair at 0605 March 12. Via São Tomé, 0530-0630 M-F only; quickly confirmed by // weaker 9480 Greenville with which it echoed. The 4960 transmitter comes back on at 0700-0730 daily for Hausa which also precedes the French hour.

Looked for VOA Korean`s American-songbook music which used to appear reliably at 1315 UT, but not at tune-in 1317 March 12 on 5890 via Tinian; instead a string of frequencies announced including ``AM, kHz``, 1319 starting another show with banjo music (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** VATICAN [and non]. 5985 with VR IS, weak but clear March 12 at 1313, so what`s coming up? Cannot be direct from SMG at this hour. Continued until brief announcement at 1315, but nothing further heard. So it was the end rather than the beginning of a relay transmission. Per the current VR program folder this is Chinese, starting daily at 1230, so now we also know when it ends! But what`s the site? VR won`t say that either, but HFCC reveals it`s Novosibirsk, RUSSIA, 100 kW, 111 degrees, and // 6020 which is via RVA Philippines. On Saturdays only it`s a mass in Chinese.

Also heard DRM noise on 15495-15505 steady at S9+10, 1325 UT March 12.
Per Kim, KD9XB, this was a VR test from SMG at 13-14, in preparation for DRM specials to the Winter SWL Fest, March 13 and 14 only during the same hour (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. Usually it`s Spanish 2-way SSB interfering with a broadcast, but now it`s English 2-way SSB exactly matching and interfering with XERTA speaking Spanish on 4800, March 12 at 0609. One of the SSBs was much stronger than the other, and could not make out much except ``A-OK``; maybe military net? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###