venerdì 28 agosto 2009

Glenn Hauser logs August 27-28, 2009

** CHINA [and non]. Firedrake search Aug 28: at 1311 encountered on 15150, nowhere else except the usual mixture with CNR1 jamming on 12040. Aoki currently shows 15150 as one of many 1 kW SOH 24h frequencies from Taiwan, *jammed.

Today`s variable het against DW Hausa 15410 via Rwanda, Aug 28 at 1347 was on 15412.0, no doubt V. of Tibet via Tajikistan and/or ChiCom jamming.

17705 tuned in Aug 28 at 1314 with music, unseemed Firedrake, but had less than a minute to evaluate before it vanished at 1315*. This matches the schedule of All India Radio`s Chinese service, 1145-1315, 500 kW, 58 degrees via Bangaluru, per Aoki which adds that it is *jammed. More likely I was hearing CNR1 than AIR itself (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CUBA. RHC 13680, as I tuned by Aug 28 at 1309 was advocating the restoration of democracy in Honduras. What hypocrites! There hasn`t been any democracy in Cuba since 1959y. Hmm, not before 1959 either, but there would have been if Cuba had simply become part of the USA after the 1898+ SpAm war, like Puerto Rico, where people are much better off, plus have democracy. Oops! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** GERMANY [non]. 9545 with program in Russian, Aug 28 at 0527, frequent voice-over translations of someone speaking English. Therefore, most likely Deutsche Welle where English is the primary language, not German. No ID heard, but yes, I am right as later looked up! However, at 0529:30 cut off air abruptly in mid-word, clearing the frequency for the DentroCuban Jamming Command, which was still running its annoying cohetes a sesquihour after the real target, Radio República, closed its transmission.

This is DW in Russian via Woofferton, UK, and somewhat better coördination is needed. Someone please tell them in the studio that VTC is going to cut them off at 0529:30 so they need to wrap up the transmission before then, or build in some kind of natural break. Does this DW Russian transmission continue on other frequencies? No, EiBi shows until 0530 only, also on 5915 Rampisham and 13780 Rwanda. Via Rwanda to Russia?? A bit roundabout, but I suppose it worx propagationally when transmitter time is available, altho you`d think they would all be occupied with morning broadcasts to Africa (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MOROCCO [and non]. 15345 with a lo-pitched, much less than 1 kHz but definitely audible het, and the pitch varying slightly, 2117 UT Aug 27; Arabic talk dominating, and the other signal of course RAE from Argentina which is on-frequency only by accident or coincidence. All summer RAE has had 15345v to itself after 2100 since Morocco was on DST and closed around 2100 instead of 2200, leaving RAE`s German hour in the clear.

But DST must be over now with Morocco still on after 2100: Yes, timeanddate.com says it ended August 20, just in time for Ramadan, back to UT+0. Egypt also went off DST Aug 20, but that had little effect on SW scheduling. The next time change affecting an SWBC country will not be until September 21 for Iran, after Ramadan; also should not affect SW UT scheduling, tho at IRIB studios they were confused last spring and thought it would, even sending out notices to their audience that times would be changing! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** RUSSIA. 5940 with Russian song and announcement in the clear Aug 28 at 1229, // 5920 a lot stronger but the latter colliding with off-frequency WBOH. Per Aoki, 5920 is R. Rossii via Pet/Kam, 100 kW at 30 degrees, while 5940 is via Magadan, 50 kW, 40 degrees, both until 1300 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** TAIWAN. RTI Japanese service, 9735, Aug 28 at 1349 accompanied by weak buzzy spurs of same pitch against CRI 9730 and BBC 9740 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A [and non]. 9830, fair signal in some language buried by perpetual RTTY QRM, Aug 27 at 2126. Switched from the FRG-7, to the ICF SW07 and that made all the difference. On USB the RTTY QRM was suppressed and I could easily tell it was VOA in French, concluding a USG editorial, and signing off, carrier until 2131*. It`s São Tomé at 335 degrees, M-F only. Hope the RTTY is not a problem in NW Africa like it is here, also for V of Turkey, English to NAm which follows at 2200-2250, and has ignored my advice months ago when A-09 started to get off 9830 ASAP (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. Will this be a pre-log, or a non-log? FYI, WBCQ plans to relay radio six international from Scotland, a special Friday Aug 28 only from 1900 UT until 0100 UT Aug 29 on 9330, ``live music from one of the smallest music festivals in Scotland, the "Hydro Amnesty Bash" in aid of Amnesty international``. Details at
http://www.wbcq.com and http://www.radiosix.com/ whence it is also webcast. Boo hoo, Syria (Glenn  Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. Surprised to find an AM ham QSO lower than the usual area on 80 m, 3663.0, Aug 28 at 1233 between strong WA5BLQ and weaker K5BWO who also had less robust modulation. Mostly heard Louie, WA5BLQ, talking about his gardening and yard work, 1240 on repairing an R390A where someone had put the wrong tube into a socket; and he was going to the Joplin hamfest tomorrow. WA5BLQ is Luther L. Thomas in Ozone, Arkansas 72854, which isn`t even in the index of my Rand McNally, but it`s in the Ozarx on Hwy 21 N of Clarxville on I-40. K5BWO is Howard A. Terhune in Kempner TX 76539, also missing from my RMcN index, geez! TG for Google: that`s on US 190 between Copperas Cove and Lampasas near Fort Hood. At least both towns do show on the Rand McNally atlas maps themselves, once you find them (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. Re the confusing Wichita DTV channel situation reported Aug 25-26: Doug Smith and Scott Fybush explain this in reply via DX LISTENING DIGEST 9-063, at
http://www.w4uvh.net/dxld9063.txt and then search on KWCH (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. The beeps and noise bursts on 6130 reported last time are also heard at 0537 Aug 28, but this time there are 13 beeps before each noise burst, instead of just three at 1208 Aug 26. I wonder if the number of beeps have some simple significance such as identifying different sources. Also audible at 1221 Aug 28, and now there are eleven beeps before noise, which must really be some kind of data bursts, and these are lasting longer.

Meanwhile I heard from utility DXer Jon in Florida who was also getting this at 0133 UT Aug 28, so on 6 MHz it looks as if the transmitter is fairly close, perhaps between us if he gets it in the evening and I get it in the morning. He says it`s Tadil-A Link-11, which means Tactical Data Information Link, used by US and NATO forces to exchange tactical data, radar tracks, between ships, land and aircraft. Could be from a carrier task group or navy base.
See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TADIL-A and
http://www.fas.org/irp/program/disseminate/tadil.htm
Later at 0352 he refined the Link-11 frequency to 6131.0-ISB.

Whatever the details, this stuff has no business in the middle of the 49m SWBC band! But it so happens that there is not a single SWBC scheduled on 6130 to or from the Western Hemisphere, so perhaps this is an old problem deliberately avoided by broadcasters.

Tuning around Aug 28 at 1227 I came upon another TADIL-A on 5172, this time with 6 beeps before the data bursts (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 9268.0, two-way SSB in Spanish, Aug 28 at 1351; seemed to be reasonable discussion rather than swearing. WINB is off 9265 by 1300 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###