domenica 5 luglio 2009

Glenn Hauser logs July 4-5, 2009

** CUBA. Nightly check of RHC to see if they are still running more Spanish, less English tnx to the Honduran golpe. Yes, July 5 at 0545: 11760, 6140, 6120 and 6000 in Spanish; 6060 and 6010 in English with DXers Unlimited, but 6060 quite distorted, Arnie cutting out and in.

At 0548 Spanish announcer plugged today`s Mesa Redonda Informativa from Cubavisión studios to be at 1500 UT = 11 am local, titled ``día decisivo del contra-golpe en Honduras``. WTFK? None mentioned, but we have been discovering by monitoring the ones in use after previous daily 1500 sign-off. See below.

At 1342 on 11760, mentioned special programming for Honduras, and 1343 starting En Contacto late --- the DX program normally scheduled at 1335-1350. Began as usual with birthday greetings and ``Cumpleaños Feliz`` ditty to the tune of ``Happy Birthday to You`` --- is it still due royalties in Spanish, and in Cuba? Ha. Strange thing is, I had also heard a snippet of it around 1341 as I tuned by and assumed E.C. had already started, so was that a false start, then cut off for obsessive Honduran topic?

Next on the show was Antonio Buitrago of REE`s DX program, and then explaining SINPO. At 1343 I checked for parallels, and 11800 was only open carrier, but by 1349 undermodulation identifiable as RHC. 12000 apparently missing again; see RUSSIA. The five 22m channels were on, but 13680 had occasional audio breakups at 1351. At 1357 the medical show was underway, so not sure just when En Contacto ended, but suspect it was curtailed.

Quick check at 1516 for the MRI special mentioned above: 11690, 11760, 11800, 13760 all audible. 11760 by far the strongest, 13760 just barely, mixing with Korea North. Probably also on 5965, 6000, not checked this time. Another Sunday without any Aló, Presidente (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** INDONESIA. VOI still on 9526-, July 5 at 1353 poor during music and no multi-carrier hets; but from 1357 the usual big het from CRI Russian prélude on 9525.0 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** LAOS [non]. Hmong Lao Radio, 11785 via WHRI, Sunday July 5 at 1339, speaker in Hmong in a very echoey hall. If I had listened to the whole hour, might have heard some English as Wendel Craighead did the day before (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MEXICO. Bob Wilkner often asserts that XEQM Mérida is well heard in Florida around 1300, but no such luck here. However, July 5 at 1324, 6105v was deeply fading in and out enough for me to detect an IFE PSA, then music with a heavy beat and shouting.

IFE is the government agency administering elexions, and most of the frequent government PSAs on Mexican radio the past many months have been from IFE. In fact today, July 5 is elexion day in México, for the legislative branches only; details:
http://www.electionguide.org/election.php?ID=1452
So maybe IFE PSAs will now diminish. What a weird idea, holding elexions on Sunday when most people aren`t at work! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MEXICO. Sporadic E the afternoon of July 4: around 1900 UT I was seeing some seafaring movie with characters wearing those funny triangular hats (vertically, not horizontally which are tricorns), dubbed in Spanish, same on both channels 2 and 3. Checking TV Guide online listings for Cablevisión in México DF, nothing fits on any network. Then I see starting at 2:30 (1930 UT!) ``Capitán de Mar y Guerra`` on the XHGC-5 network – that`s ``Master and Commander`` from 2003y starring Russell Crowe. At 1938 on 3, a red bug in the upper right, I think a stylized 5 for this network. Anyhow, the movie was on at least a semi-hour before it was supposed to be; or the TVG listings were at fault (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** OKLAHOMA. July 4 at 1951 UT I was checking FM for DX from México, as TV was skipping in, but no luck. Instead noticed a strange RDS from KXXY-96.1 OKC: SAVE / YOUR / RADIO / DOT ORG --- nothing else as it cycled over and over. http://saveyourradio.org is a petition drive to Congress against radio stations having to pay royalties on music (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** RUSSIA. VOR Chinese, 12000, July 5 at 1341 quite distorted but could not detect any Havana mix (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###