** CHINA. OTH radar ranges, approximately, not bothered to log lately, but did so Dec 16, presumed from here: at 1442, 6470-6495, 6870-6915; at 1444, 5430-5480, 5180-5230, and sounding different from the others, 5365-5395: this pulsing had a higher pitch and a somewhat slower rate (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake Dec 16 at 1450: poor on 8400, 9000, nothing on 10210 or 11300. At 1608, poor with flutter on 9685, and 8400 = 9000 also still audible. What`s on 9685 to jam? Latest Aoki has the answer:
BBC Uzbek via Singapore at 1600-1630 only. Thus the ChiCom violate the sovereignty of Uzbekistan, butting in to a broadcast from one country to a third country (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA [and non]. RHC late-night/madrugada Dec 16: at 0744 the Spanish frequencies 6150, 6120 had quite a hum.
6120 also with co-channel under in Dutch which must mean it`s not from Netherlands but is from R. Nederland. During this hour it`s via guess where? Vatican! 266 degrees to SW Europe, NW Africa. RN is on 6120 from 06 to 11, changing sites from Nauen to Santa Maria di Galeria, finally Wertachtal and with a beamshift at 0900. But I digress.
RHC Spanish also audible weaker on 11760. English was on undermodulated 6140 and very good 6060. Both still in English at final check 0813. A secret extra airing of DXers Unlimited had started at 0748. Now there are ``85 ways to enjoy radio``. I assume tracking down all the mistakes RHC makes and all the disruption DentroCuban jamming causes are not two of them. Item 1: IBOC and DRM.
There was no jamming of DXers Unlimited. Yet the first airing anywhere of WORLD OF RADIO 1491 which went on WRMI 9955 at 0800 this UT Wednesday, had equally strong modulated jamming pulses disrupting my every word.
Tnx a lot, Arnie! If I am going to be jammed anyway, to make it worthwhile, I include this week news of an anti-Castro blog run by Huber Matos of La Voz del CID, http://patriapuebloylibertad.blogspot.com
I am a bit peeved that some of my fellow DXers/SWLs have criticised me, a victim of excessive Cuban jamming (and they are too whether they know it or not), for not taking it lying down. Bringing up the subject pales by comparison to axually carrying out massive jamming against fellow broadcasters. Yes, Arnie never talks about jamming on DXUL, so that gets him off the hook? Yeah, right (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. 6104.9, XEQM, Mérida, Yucatán, surprisingly good S9+12 signal Dec 16 at 0745, live DJ with 1:46 am timecheck, telephone number for requests, other chatter over music, a minute later at 0748 giving ``exact time`` as 1:49, back to music only. Modulation a bit distorted, and just a hint of a het from something on 6105.0, nothing scheduled from major broadcasters, so maybe one of the other LA stations. But: about to get blown away by TWR; see MONACO [non] (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MONACO [non]. 9800, S9+10 at 0758 Dec 16, TWR music-box IS, 0800 sign-on in English as ``Trans World Radio, UK on the 31 and 49 meter bands`` but no frequencies given, programme summary, and then the first one is apparently Dick Saunders` Rendezvous which is also in English, starting with a hymn on Hammond organ.
At 0814, rechecking for XEQM, I found instead the other TWR frequency on 6105, but not in synch: 9800 was running 3 or 4 words ahead. XEQM could still cause a het on TWR, which was giving a UK address, had been studying Hebrews, Thru the Bible with Dr J Vernon McGee, then about being on Facebook. Does TWR-UK still have a mailbag show, or is it 100% gospel huxters, with Facebook serving the mailbag funxion? They even had a DX program once upon a time.
6105 is 285 degrees from Nauen, GERMANY; 9800 is 324 degrees from ``Monaco``, really FRANCE (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** PHILIPPINES. 9430, once again one is taken aback by something from FEBC in English, a useless language not officially on its schedule in favor of numerous minolity Asian languages one has never even heard of. Dec 16 at 1453 a kids` Xmas song in English reminding us of something on ``Polar Express`` or ``We Are the World``, but not secular, and OM announcer briefly spoke English, then to YL in Mandarin, the real language on this transmission at 0900-1630 via Bocaue site. It is a bilingual segment we have run across before; she spelled a website http://www.psalty.com and later spelled the word H-E-A-V-E-N. Checked website and Psalty is a cartoon character, a kids` missionary songbook, get it? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** PORTUGAL. Oh, oh, very distorted FMy spur on 15857.6 as closely as I could measure it without a specific carrier to pinpoint, Dec 16 at 1521 as I started my bandscan down the 19m band. Quickly tuned further for matching audio and found it immediately at 15690, i.e. RDPI. That`s plus 167.6 kHz, so is there a match on the lo side? Yes, more of the same on 15522.4.
The fundamental was somewhat distorted, but S9+12 tho aimed 82 degrees
and enjoyed the programming, so once identified I neglected the spurs. Sounds like a live concert involving violin around 1538. At 1541 I could not believe my ears --- some English on RDPI! A Swedish musician was being interviewed, and English was the compromise language; long live ESL! But soon translated into Portuguese. Apparently there was some Sweden/Portugal cultural exchange ongoing. 1550, harmonica. 1555 mentioned both RDPI and RDP Africa. Then other things to monitor but at 1603 recheck, all three frequencies were off. 15690 is scheduled 14-16 M-F only.
In case you haven`t heard, Isabel Saraiva has died after a long illness, reports Ullmar Qvick. She was a great friend to SWLs, DXers, QSL seekers, going beyond the call of duty to reply in English, send gifts, etc.
A successor has stepped forward, inviting contacts in English or Portuguese, Paula Nunes Teixeira, Email - paula.teixeira @ rtp.pt
or:
RDP /Internacional
Intercâmbio e contact
Paula Nunes Teixeira
A. Marechal Gomes da Costa, 37
1849-030 LISBON
PORTUGAL
``I am available, Thanks,`` she says in a message received by Marcelo Bedene, DX Clube Paraná (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SLOVAKIA. 6055, Dec 16 at 0816 in German. Figured it would be R. Nikkei with another language lesson, but never any Japanese in the mix, and not // 9595, so that`s out. Uplooked later, this semihour is RSI`s German service at 305 degrees. No doubt Nagara would have been audible before and after. Solar flux had soared to 82 the day before, and Europe was making it here in the nightmiddle even on 25m (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SUDAN [non]. DX Mix News reports that from Dec 15, Miraya FM via IRRS via SLOVAKIA has finally escaped the collision with Greece at 1500 on 15650, by moving to 9825, so I look for it Dec 16 at 1525: all I can detect there is a weak carrier, but at 1526 Greece is indeed free of co-channel on 15650, no SAH tho it too is quite weak (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U K. 12095, BBCWS English, Dec 16 at 1515, flutter and long-path echo; site is Rampisham, 95 degrees at 15-17. That`s the trouble with rising solar flux: improved propagation lets signals go the long way round too instead of petering out (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 5935, WWCR-2, Dec 16 at 0810 had DGS in the foreground, but Brother Scare clearly audible underneath, the latter about 3 sex ahead of WWRB 3185. I guess they did not have the BS feed potted fully down, as it intentionally replaces DGS at 15-19 UT (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WJHR check Dec 16 on 15550-incompatible USB: at 1524 something just barely audible, no readability. 1558 had improved greatly, quite audible with usual F&B preacher referencing II Chronicles 26-27. FRG-7 S-meter was not moving at all, steady at S6, i.e. the current background noise level. 1602 usual ID which always seems to come slightly past the hour, and now the steady S-meter shows only S3 or S2, so the signal is so weak it won`t move the meter even tho it is readable. Hans Johnson, Cumbre DX, found out that the power is only 1 kW!
That means what we have here is nothing but a typical ham rig, with a quad antenna, which somehow managed to get accepted as an SWBC station. They can `test` as long as possible with power like that, but for a full license a minimum of 50 kW is required, so will we ever hear that? The FCC probably made a mistake in authorizing this as the SSB equivalent of 50 kW AM is more like 12.5 kW PEP, even that a figure which should be difficult to achieve with a ham rig in a home (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [and non]. 7240, R. Australia still audible at 1611 Dec 16, but an LSB ham net is right on top of it, with RA being a BFO; however, it helped to inject a bit more carrier here. The net`s name was, appropriately ``The 72-40 Club``; did not catch any calls but one of them was a WA5. Seems they might have picked a different frequency as RA has been here for ages, but then they would have to call it something else. The final April 2007 edition of John Norfolk`s Nets to You! already had this, but it was then one hour earlier (winter/summer U times shown):
1500 1400 7240 7240 CLUB (North Carolina) Monday-Friday
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. Haven`t checked WINB for Tony Alámo in a while, so was standing by on 13570 as it was about to sign on, Dec 16: 1559 open carrier, 1559:30 ID and contact info including phone 714-244-5360; 1600 right into Tony Alamo with program #764, of which free copies are available on request. Bernie LaZar Hoffman, to cite his original name, was convicted of child sexual abuse, and sentenced to 175 years in prison on November 13. So now it`s more than a month later, and that`s still no problem for WINB, blithely bringing you the scum of the earth --- and without even a disclaimer (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** VENEZUELA [non]. 11680, RNV via CUBA, Dec 16 at 1509 English news about V giving Ecuador 5 million ``saving bulbs`` to help the poor during the hydro-power crisis, which had arrived at the port of Guayaquil Dec 14. This was the ``Informative Short News`` segment, then into Spanish ID, 1511 ``Las Líneas de Chávez``, their version of ``Quotations from Chairman Mao``, which nevertheless turned out to be in broken English rather than elegant Spanish.
This reminded me at 1512 to tune 11710 for even more stilted English from V. of Korear, which still has got El Hugazo beat hands-down in the Commie personality-cult business, but they are certainly a rôle model. After a few chuckles there, went back to 11680 but it dumped off the air at 1513, as only the worst Cuban transmitters are good enough for their Vennie pals. This uncovered the co-channel QRM I had been hearing all along, in Arabic, BBC via Rampisham (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
Once again I neglected to fill in the subject line for my previous report, which should have been headed
Glenn Hauser logs December 14-15, 2009
Instead of reposting it immediately with the subject, I am appending it here in case anyone missed it because of that:
** CHINA. Firedrake Dec 15 at 1448: 8400 fair, 9000 JBA, 10210 none, 11300 good steady at S9+10 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA [and non]. DentroCuban Jamming Command against nothing, on 7365 pulsing away at 0623 Dec 15, managing to impede two adjacent frequencies in French: 7370 Romania and weaker 7360 Vatican. The only time jamming is `necessary` on 7365 is when R. Martí is using it, 0000-0500, but hey, close enough for Commie government work.
Much heavier jamming on 7405 which R. Martí is axually using until 0700. But at 0705 check, no jamming at all on 7365 or 7405, instead concentrating on 6030 and 5980. A brief very strong open carrier and tone did appear on 7405 until 0706, Greenville testing? See also USA: WRMI; UNIDENTIFIED 15580.
RHC, UT Dec 15 at 0704* tuned in 6010 just in time to hear English news being cut off the air abruptly four minutes late; continued on 6060, while 6140 in English before 0700 had switched to Spanish, along with 6120 and 6150. This appears to be the nominal pattern for what happens around 0700 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO [and non]. 6185, XEPPM, Dec 15 at 0630 with space music one might have heard on ``Music from the Hearts of Space``; tnx to the eclectic format of R. Educación, you never know what kind of music they will be playing during the all-too-brief QRM-free window, which tonight lasted until *0645 Brasília playing Silent Night in progress in Portuguese (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TUNISIA. Monitored RTT on 7275 again Dec 15 to see when it would go off, at 0627:30 like yesterday? Almost: YL started outro to previous music, with cuckoo-clock sounds, but faded her out after a few Arabic words, OC and off by 0627:20; continued on // 7335 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [and non]. 9955, WRMI, clear of jamming Dec 15 at 0657 ending ``El Camino`` religious program, brief fill music, 0659 IDs and reception report info by Jeff White, 0701 R. Prague relay in English. Back to usual very heavy jamming, no WRMI audible before 1500 UT. Between 1505 and 1510 the jamming noise gradually abated audiblizing another R. Prague relay in English (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. Two MARS nets noted the morning of Dec 15: 4623-SSB, Navy MARS, which still exists, was just securing at 1422 with ``final comments``. Copied one call among several weak stations, NNN0YQP, the last three letters expressed fonetically. Frequency approximate as did not have a chance to measure it or determine which sideband.
Googling on that call I got ONE hit, Sept 2009! Internet security must be pretty tight. http://www.navymars.org/national/cmi/CMIB-2009-35.txt
``NNN0YQP JAMEWS -------------------- WI 10 YEARS OF SERVICE``
4517-USB, Air Force MARS, 1425 with NCS AFE7DM, strongest signal, discussing QRM, where it was being heard and where not in parts of the ``Midwest`` --- and just what states that term applies to. Called the QRM ``sweeper``, ``Star Wars``, one station even imitating it with his mouth, but never called it CODAR, making me wonder if they know what it really is. AFE7DM was using group callsign NCM3 in his calls for other check-ins. Some of them were hearing CODAR relayed from other stations over linx. 1438 ``the net is free`` and individual stations contacted each other without management by the net control station.
Googling on that call got five hits, including:
http://region3digital.tripod.com/
``AFE7DM (NC Area Digital Manager) is Conrad Steinel, AFA7VP
located in Emporia, KS``. NC means North Central, even tho Emporia`s latitude is about one sesquidegree south of the geographical center of the Lower 48 in north-central Kansas (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. Another quick MW bandscan on the caradio at a hotspot in western Enid the afternoon of Dec 14, times UT!
1200, at 2137, skywave in, something in Spanish atop WOAI, various ads for juguetes, etc., causing slow SAH with WOAI; later mentioned ``Chicago informa … 1,200 AM``. So it`s WRTO, 10 kW, ``La Tremenda`` per NRC AM Log 2009-2010. Strangely enough, per NRC pattern book, its daytime design has a null to the SE, but plenty of signal to the SW. WOAI soon faded up overtaking it, but 1200 is hardly a ``clear channel`` any more!
540, at 2144, KWMT Ft Dodge IA, groundwave, with two or three IDs in passing during info about local events. Usually it`s a mix with KDFT, but no sign of Spanish this time; the latter off the air? If it stays off I may finally have a chance of inpulling KNMX by daytime groundwave, which ought to be possible here. {no, KDFT was back the next day}
570, at 2147, usual mix of KLIF with groundwave from WNAX SD, way under but audible with SAH of about 3.5 Hz. Someone was wondering whether WNAX was running usual spex; seems so to me (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 15580, listening to weak signal from VOA in English news, Dec 15 at 1451, it was overridden for about 20 seconds by a very strong open carrier. Likely Greenville testing a frequency they would use later, but at least they kept it quick. But why not test on open 15570 instead as they do before 2100? GB VOA is currently scheduled on 15580 at 17-18 and 21-22, while at 14-15 15580 is via SOUTH AFRICA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
