domenica 7 febbraio 2010

Glenn Hauser logs February 6, 2010

** ANGUILLA [and non]. Another screwup by The University Network audio feed, occurring anywhere from LA to International Vacuum, but not at the hapless/helpless SW transmitter sites: Feb 6 at 0636, 6090 Anguilla mostly dead air with bits of PMS audio occasionally cutting on. Exactly the same thing is happening on 5935 WWCR at 0639 check. Allows us to enjoy the het from Nigeria 6090v with less QRM (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENNG DIGEST)

** ASIA [non]. 12035, Feb 6 at 1520, screaming American-accented gospel huxter about the dark age we are in; around 1530 I was engrossed with 15670 so missed ID if any, but at 1532-1545*, 12035 was wasting kilowatts with open carrier only.

This is Bible Voice Broadcasting scheduled via Wertachtal, GERMANY, due east with 100 kW, English, Urdu or Punjabi depending on day of week and quarter-hour. Aoki shows it at 1500-1615 but nothing on day 7 = Saturday, so it must be highly flexible. A DTK schedule instead shows Saturday span is 1515-1545. Who pays for the 15 minutes of dead air? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** BRAZIL [and non]. 6185, RNA cut on *0632 Feb 6, obliterating music from XEPPM with its own music; how rude! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHINA [non]. 13670, Feb 6 at 1515 YL talk in French, then song vs splatter from 13675 CRI via CANADA, confidently list-logged as CRI via Cërrik, ALBANIA, as scheduled, ChiCom vs ChiCom! But widely divergent targets supposedly not QRMing each other (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGSET)

** CUBA [and non]. 9955, DentroCuban Jamming Command noise wall obliterating WRMI before 1500 Sat Feb 6 when WORLD OF RADIO is scheduled. Standard denunciation of Arnie Coro for allowing this against a fellow DX program. And he pretends to be ``our friend in Habana``??!! At 1500 jamming as usual abated somewhat so we could tell that WRMI was still relaying R. Prague in English. But at 1657 recheck nothing but jamming audible.

11600, jamming vs presumed Radio República, grinding away Feb 6 at 1658; no doubt started as usual one hour earlier.

13770, RHC`s weak but long-hours frequency all day in Spanish, Feb 6 at 1702 had weaker station under. AIR in Hindi, 500 kW, 300 degrees from Bangaluru is scheduled at 1615-1730, and nothing else, per Aoki.

As an outlaw nation, Cuba refuses to participate in HFCC, so all others may unsafely assume RHC is not on any particular frequency (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** GERMANY [non]. Having heard a quarter hour of open carrier at 1530 on 12035, see ASIA [non], I was not too surprised to hear more OC on frequency at 1701, no audio until 1703, YL news in French joined in progress; not // 15300 so not RFI but this is something else. 1705 all is revealed with DW jingle and ID as to Africa. This hour is scheduled via Woofferton UK, following a previous hour of same via Rampisham (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** INDONESIA [and non]. 4750, RRI Makassar, SSOB, Feb 6 at 1420 in long-form piece of familiar piano music I wish I could place, with YL narration in Indonesian, later breaking into song. Must have been a `good Indonesian morning` on 60m if only I had been monitoring earlier. 5030 Malaysia also audible (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** KOREA NORTH [non]. 9950, Feb 6 at 1440 YL monolog in Japanese, then Korean, 1444 definitely Japanese, unusually strong signal muscling aside even the DentroCuban jamming against WRMI on 9955. At 1450 she was announcing e-mail and website, using English letters, but so Japanese-accented that I could not copy them, except for .jp. Off at 1459:30*.

Must be mixing languages, but this is officially the Japanese version of Furusato no Kaze, one of the clandestines concerned with abduxions by the North Koreans, site being PALAU at 1430-1500, while their other transmitter on 9930 also closed at same time; see USA [non].

As on WORLD OF RADIO 1498, Hiroshi and S. Hasegawa gave us the current schedule for these via Taiwan and Palau, as of Feb 2, post-Darwin:

Furusato no Kaze in Japanese
1333-1357 9775 via TWN (ex 9950)
1430-1500 9950 via PLW (ex 9880 via Darwin)
1600-1630 9780 via TWN
 
Ilbone Baram (Nippon no Kaze) in Korean
1300-1330 9655 via TWN
1500-1530 9975 via PLW (ex 9690 via Darwin)
1530-1600 9965 via PLW
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** KOREA NORTH [and non]. 7590, Feb 6 at 1533 oscillating Juche jammer against something weak under, i.e. North Korea Reform Radio via Tashkent, UZBEKISTAN, 15-16, 100 kW, 65 degrees per Aoki (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** KURDISTAN [non]. 7540, V. of Mesopotamia with typical Kurdish music, Feb 6 at 1533, fair with flutter. Not often heard here unlike regular 11530 before 1500 QSY. Both are 129 degrees from ``Simferopol``, UKRAINE, meaning really Mykolaiv as in Ukrainian, Nikolayev as in Russian. I get the spelling differences toward the end, but not why one starts with M and the other with N.

BTW, at least half the time, it seems, English-writers misspell ``Ukrainian`` leaving out the I in the middle, despite the fact that the natives stress that very letter, not allowing it to be swallowed as merely a member of a diphthong (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MADAGASCAR [non]. R. Mada, 15670 now colliding with Miraya FM: see SUDAN [non]

** OKLAHOMA. KFAQ 1170 Tulsa IBOC is still off at 1555 UT check Feb 6; I am beginning to be hopeful (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SAUDI ARABIA. 15435, BSKSA still buzz-free, Feb 6 at 1505, good with Qur`an, only light squeal/whine to mar it.

Just how long was the buzz going on? Searching on that keyword in my DXLD archive, the first reference I found was in 5-021, when Wolfgang Büschel reported it February 1, 2005, on 21460 and 21495; more in 5-029 on 21, 17 and 9 MHz channels, March 2, 2005, but already had been buzzing ``for some months``.

The first buzz report on 15435 was in 6-140 for Sept 19, 2006, from yours truly. We still need to confirm whether the buzz also be gone from the same transmitter on other frequencies at times other than 15-18 UT. It`s probably on 21495 or one of the other seldom-propagating 13m channels until 1500. We had also been hearing abuzz recently on 11785, possibly from a second defective unit.

Later monitoring Feb 6, 2010 at 1647: 15435 still very good, stronger than // 15205 now on the air, again with Qur`an, and that stronger than // 15225 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SPAIN [and non]. While other 16m signals are so-so, REE still inbooms on 17595, Feb 6 at 1650 with modern classical piano music. Tuned on up to 17850 // via Costa Rica, at 1654 outroing piece as ``Fracciones Líricas``, and 1655 outro program title ``América Mágica``, as on schedule grid for 16-17 Saturday hour only. From the title, you would never guess it deals with contemporary classical Latin American music.

Equally huge but lo-fi signal on 17850 was atop much weaker co-channel despite lots of open spaces on 16m, so outmatched that it was hard to compute the SAH around 3.5 Hz. It had a French touch, and sure enough, that`s RFI in French at 16-17, 500 kW, 170 degrees from Issoudun.

11765, at 1659 Feb 6, REE IS at VG level about equal to Habana 11760; 1700 accurate timesignal, fanfare and Arabic service (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SUDAN [non]. 15670, Miraya FM via IRRS via SLOVAKIA, Sat Feb 6 at 1430 with ID, promo music, poor. I had warned both WRN and IRRS about the impending collision between this and R. Mada, which has been using 15670 via Pridnestrovye, only on Sat & Sun at 1530-1600 for many weeks, but they did not manage to untangle in time. Maybe by next day or next week?

As early as 1508, I detected an open carrier mixing with Miraya, making a 2.8 Hz SAH, so Mada transmitter is on, way early. Rate varied slightly either due to transmitter warmup/instability or Doppler disruptions in transit.

At 1528 recheck, the OC had added ``Russian tuneup tones`` vs Miraya. At 1530 their audios were mixing at about equal levels here, intolerable, and likely as bad in Sudan and Madagascar, except both of them much stronger in target zones. At 1539, one had hilifish music, the other talk; at 1550 both were mixing music.

Meanwhile, nothing at all heard on 15660, 15665, 15675 or 15680, so this could be easily solved by one of them shifting to one of those. Nothing scheduled either on any except WHRI on 15665, but they aren`t really using it, at least not this early, one of countless wooden WHR registrations.

Next check at 1625, Miraya again had 15670 to itself, good but with increased flutter. Is it now closing at 17 instead of 18 since it`s starting an hour earlier at 14? Unchecked after 17.

The poor Sudanese (or are they fortunate?) have a logjam of target broadcasts from abroad; see also next item, Dabanga. At the same time as Miraya, there is Sudan Radio Service on 17745 via PORTUGAL, at 1511 Feb 6 in English with drums and hilife music. Supposedly there is more English on Saturdays than elsewhen. SRS still good at 1653 with choral music (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SUDAN [and non]. Unidentified 13800, continuous tone test of about 1 kHz (not a het on just one side), Feb 6 at 1703 mixing with station in Arabic or similar. So R. Dabanga service to Sudan via MADAGASCAR at 1529-1727 has an interference problem tho nothing else is listed; or could it be a form of jamming? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** TAIWAN [non]. 11850, ``this day in history`` segment making some of the same points as on VOA at :27 past the hours, Feb 6 at 1709, fair signal in clear from R. Taiwan International, ID, a cappella singer joined by others briefly, then Charlie Stark introducing features for rest of English hour starting at 1711 with ``Occidental Tourist`` tale of mystix and doppelgangers, prompted by a Facebook week. This broadcast is 160 degrees from Issoudun, FRANCE (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A [and non]. Collision on 9930: Feb 6 at 1440 I am hearing an American preacher, good signal atop some weaker audio. Preacher is certainly T8WH PALAU, registered here at 0700-1800, and underneath is VOA via SRI LANKA at 1400-1600. Azimuths are 345 and 322 degrees, respectively, which means a worse clash likely in Asia, altho the CIRAF target zones are officially distinct, 43-45 and 41, respectively. 1457, plug for WHR Bible giveaway and off by 1459, uncovering VOA weak and fluttery, but apparently they are about to sign off too.

Now I check VOA on 9760 at 1502: yes, it`s back with English news via Philippines, instead of R. Farda as heard yesterday, which I suppose was a horrible mistake.

15460, Feb 6 at 1506 poor signal with flutter from VOA Spe-cial Eng-lish, but better than 9930 had been. Not noticed on 15460 before; this is Thailand at 166 degrees, 15-16 UT only.

15620, Feb 6 at 1645, urgent-sounding speech in an HOA language. Aoki shows VOA Somali. This is that wacky 2-hour transmission 16-18 with a site change every semi-hour, just to keep the Somalis on their toes and/or all the IBB transmitter techs.

At 16 it`s 10 degrees from Botswana; at 1630 it`s 135 from Wertachtal, GERMANY; 1700 it`s 263 from Sri Lanka; 1730 it`s 76 from São Tomé. I wonder if they all manage to drop carrier immediately and crash start in order to avoid interfering with each other at handovers.

Check of Lavwadlamerik`s mid-day Creole service to Haiti, Feb 6 at 1729, some music already playing apparently as a prélude, on 15390, or have they really expanded that broadcast too earlier into the morning when not checked? Anyhow at 1730 cut to ``Welcome to the Voice of America --- in Creole!`` as if just starting then.

Washington host then spent the next three minutes trying to bring up counterparts in Miami with no success; live radio! Also on 17565, and after 1930, 15390 is still on the air until 2100, with 13725 also still heard after then (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A [non]. 17575 at 1650 Feb 6, HOA music. Is AWR in Somali via France at 1630-1700, 250 kW at 125 degrees (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 700, Feb 6 at 1607 on the caradio I hear KHSE, The Metroplex, TX, in English! Usually is in some S Asian language. YL opens program of the India Association of North Texas, inviting calls to studio at a 214-AC number for requests and dedications, soon into Indian music.

Last time I logged this in Sept, found program schedule at
http://funasia.net/Files/rad_saturday.html
At ``10-12 AM`` Saturday host is Shabnam Modgil, program is Radio Bharti, and the content is ``India Association Of North Texas``. You can`t really tell from this schedule which programs are in English unless the title includes Punjabi or something, and even then could be bilingual. I see that during various unsold hours, the default is nonstop music.

Besides the splash from KGGF-690 KS, this morning I am hearing a weaker signal underneath on 700. I suppose the 15 kW in Houston with its unfavorable pattern tho not a null is about as likely as remnant WLW 50 kW non-direxional, less than twice as far. Salt Lake aims due south even daytimes, per NRC Pattern Book.

Meanwhile, 720 bore two weak signals with the typical SAH between KSAH TX and WGN IL. Running only 1.5 kW, KHSE would be much better here were it not for its own null (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 15570, big open carrier at 1507 Feb 6, even stronger than Portugal 15560, but some splatter from it. Surely another Greenville test in lieu of 15580 which they will use later. Still or again OC on 15570 at next check 1646, much stronger than VOA 15580 with African music, site for that being São Tomé at 15-17, pending switch to Greenville at 1700, very likely from the same transmitter standing by on 15570 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###