sabato 16 ottobre 2010

Glenn Hauser logs October 16, 2010

** CHINA. Firedrake Oct 16:
10500, poor with heavy flutter at 1242.
There is also heavy flutter on all East Asian signals 9-12 MHz, including the CNR1 jammers. No other Firerakes found up to 18 MHz by 1249. The heavy flutter certainly does not correlate with WWV:

``Solar-terrestrial indices for 15 October follow.
Solar flux 82 and mid-latitude A-index 4.
The mid-latitude K-index at 1200 UTC on 16 October was 0 (3 nT).
No space weather storms were observed for the past 24 hours.
No space weather storms are expected for the next 24 hours.``
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CUBA. RHC check Oct 16 at 0538: English on 5970, 6010, 6060 and 6150; Spanish on 6120, 5040. Altho usually the case, this is anomalous in the sense that the RHC schedule at
http://www.radiohc.cu/espanol/c_frecuencia/frecuencias.htm
continues to claim that after 0500, English is only on 6060 and 6150!
The even more outdated schedule of English in English at
http://www.radiohc.cu/ingles/c_frecuencia/frecuencias.htm
shows 6010, 6060 and 6140, the latter replaced months ago by 5970
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CUBA [and non]. 9965, wall-of-noise jamming underway at 1402 Oct 16. Now we know for sure what is going on here. Radio República has been announcing this frequency as well as 5955: daily at 7 am to 5 pm Cuban time (1100-2100 UT) on 9965, and 5 pm to midnight (2100-0400 UT) on 5955, in addition to the weeknight relays via Sackville and weekends via WRMI.

2100 fits as the earliest time 5954 has been reported, and the end of jamming I have observed on 9965, but I doubt if RR is on before the jamming in the morning starts at 1358. I have still, NEVER been able to detect it on 9965, nor has anyone else I am aware of, unlike many reports of RR vs jamming on 5955. It looks as if this is the same transmitter which changes frequencies at 2100, but if it`s ELCOR it doesn`t have much punch, so could just be a ham unit in Costa Rica or vicinity.

With BFO on 9965, I could tell there was a carrier underneath the noise, but likely collateral victim R. Australia in Chinese until 1430 via Palau. ``KHBN`` continues on 9965 until 2200 with other clients and some more RA later in our daytime.

Why bother? Only to tie up some jammers which could do more damage elsewhere, and to hold high the flag of freedom. RR really ought to jump around to some different frequencies to keep the DentroCuban Jamming Command on its toes, as long as they are carefully chosen not to interfere with anyone else. I assume the DCJC heard these announcements long ago, if not axually RR, since the jamming has been on 9965 now for months.

Meanwhile on 9955 there was weaker jamming at 1402, but still plenty to inaudiblize the Saturday morning airing of WORLD OF RADIO on WRMI, itself weak; confirmed on webcast. Tnx a lot, Arnie! We may try again at 1730, Sunday 0800, 1530, 1730; or WWCR UT Sunday 0230 on 4840, 0630 on 3215 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** GUATEMALA. 4055.0, R. Verdad just barely audible at 0542 Oct 16, matching frequency with Spain 6055.0. At 1143 music is audible, now matching Nikkei on 6055.0. On Oct 15 received this from Dr. Madrid:

``Thank you, Glenn. Your report digest is very valuable to us.
 
No, we are not with our big transmitter yet. It's the small one. But, next Sunday 17th, I am leaving for Guatemala City to meet Eng. Ralph Borthwick, from Canada, and he will finish to repair our big transmitter, and install a much better antenna (I have started such installations already). God willing, we may be on the air around the 25th of October with our whole power. You can understand that the damage of our transmitter was severe, as no Guatemalan technician was able to repair it. Thanks God for the recent help of Eng. Ralph Borthwick, who was the designer of our transmitter, and is helping us so kindly.
 
I just received a report from Russia (October 9th), and it provides very much data, as a proof of his fair noisy reception. As soon as I have time to do so, I will send you your QSL Card and our "Radio Pack". Thank you again. Dr. Édgar Amílcar Madrid, Manager and Director`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** JAPAN [and non]. TP carrier scan Oct 16 at 1158 with DX-398 in USB: only audible on 774, 747 and 567. 747 is as usual best, NHK-2 Sapporo, JOIB. That makes 567 likely NHK-1 also Sapporo, JOIK, tho only 100 kW compared to 500. There are some higher-powered Asians further inland on 567, unlikely.

Closer to sunrise at 1223 I do it again, this time with DX-398 in LSB: carriers on 1053, 828, 774, 747, 594, 567 and 1134 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** LIBYA. 21695, V. of Africa, Oct 16 at 1250 in Swahili, has a ripple on the modulation and with BFO the carrier is also unstable. Same situation at 1320 on // 17725. Altho E Asian signals have heavy flutter, Libya does not, so I think the ripple is really emanating from their transmitters, not Doppler-affected propagation (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MEXICO. Circa sunrise XE MW DX Oct 16:

580, at 1202 Mexican NA from WSW, vs WIBW nulled as best I can; most likely XEFI Chihuahua where it`s 6+ am. Lost it at sign-on time. 1204 talking about festival de sandía, (watermelon fest).

760, at 1209 from WSW, Spanish W&M discussion of alcoholic support groups. One possibility in Chihuahua, two in Sonora.

800, at 1236 doing better against nulled OKC than yesterday, same YL recounting recent murders in various colonias, such as Melchor Ocampo. Of course, every Mexican city probably has one named that, but surely this is Ciudad Juárez, murder capital, XEROK.

850, crooner with nice song in Spanish, from WSW in KOA null, making SAH of about 6 Hz, but 1216 goes to Cruzada con Luis Palau, who says he will take only 8 minutes to discuss II Corinthians: 10. He`s perhaps the most widely-syndicated gospel huxter in Latin America. Losing signal by the time it`s over around 1230. Very likely XEM, Chihuahua, Renacimiento 850 per WRTH.

1040, at 1218 UT, 6:18 TC, then string of government PSAs, such as for CNDR (Comité Nacional de Derechos Humanos), Cámara de Senadores (can you imagine the US Senate providing PSAs about the good work it does?), IFE (Instituto Federal Electoral), and here`s the clincher, Instituto Electoral de Chihuahua. Makes SAH with WHO, nullable. Only hear ``Mil Cuarenta`` not full IDs, 1221 to rock song in English. The only 1040 Chihuahuan in WRTH is XEHES, Radiorama Siglo XXI, Chihuahua city, and Cantú
http://mexicoradiotv.com/listchih.htm agrees

** OKLAHOMA. 1670, the 1317 Cansler Drive talking house on the west side of Enid continues to be heard much stronger than before, as far east as downtown Enid, well atop the co-channel hash from other THs. So Oct 14 around 1815 UT I drive to that address to confirm whether it`s still there. Previous photo:
http://www.w4uvh.net.1670th1317ca.jpg
[in last report there was an error in this URL]
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** RUSSIA. 5930, the motorboating Pet/Kam transmitter already audible at 0540 UT Oct 16 in Russian.

To find Pet/Kam at gaisma, you have to look under EUROPE, for all of Russia!
http://www.gaisma.com/en/location/petropavlovsk-kamchatskiy.html

It shows local time as UT+11, but DST is in effect, with local time sundown for Oct 16 at 18:27. Yet when I am checking this at 1515 UT, the local time clock shows 04:15! That would be UT +13, not +12. So was sundown at UT 0627 or 0527? Perhaps it`s confused by my having to set my computer on Azores Daylight Time in order to make it = UT.

Gaisma also has a grayline map for the current time, but not clear how to reset it, so go to
http://www.fourmilab.ch/cgi-bin/Earth
where the terminator map may be set for any date and time. At 0527 UT Oct 16, it was still day in Pet/Kam, at 0627 UT sunset, so my log was an hour before SS. At 6 MHz, of course, it should get out considerably earlier than that, especially with lowering solar elevations (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. Having heard 720 KDWN Las Vegas a few times around sunrise here, I find a similar weak signal east/west on 840, Oct 16 at 1232 UT, hoping it`s KXNT. Rand Paul clip in cast from ``Newsradio 84``, poor with KOA IBOC, but shux, this is still WHAS as IDed at 1235 from Louisville KY, over full-day path, so not such a bad catch itself (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 1650, Oct 16 at 0459 UT, Spanish ad for Bible study course, ID for ``1650 AM, Radio ---, KB-``, ergo Radio Luz, KBJD Denver, per NRC AM Log. Spanish on the X-band grabs my attention, but chances of anything being foreign are remote (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 1590, the 1 kW day-power non-direxional WGBW DX test was intermittently audible here, from Two Rivers WI (just north of Manitowoc on Lake Michigan, not far from Green Bay ---- hmm, maybe that`s what the calls stand for: they have a CP to move to Denmark, closing in on GB) --- but always with severe QRM from dozens of other 1590 stations, plus cacophony of SAH fading as they can`t all agree to transmit on 1590.000. Bits of WGBW would occasionally slightly overcome the QRM.

Oct 16 at 0508 UT, heard WGBW ID; 0513 brief tone; 0519:40 longer tone till about 0520, then calliope tune; 0523:30 ``WGBW, AM 1590 . . . This is a test. We will return to regular programming . . .``; 0526 sounds like phone caller on the air, a DXer somewhere? Or could have been from the QRM. 0533:40, bugle tune denoting ``charge!``.

I was getting this on the DX-398 inside with AC power, internal ferrite antenna only, aiming NNE. (The FRG-7 with E-W longwire had 1590 dominated by something else, in regular schedule with weather at 0534.). Thanks for running the test, as hearing WGBW here otherwise would be unlikely, unless tuning up to radiate on second harmonic 3180 (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. Finally I am standing by to catch the sign-on of WPJK, 3160, Orangeburg SC: Oct 16 at 1128 open carrier is on; 1131 brief opening of only some 30 seconds mentioning FCC authorization, address and station manager. And immediately into gospel music until 1137 when YL Saturday DJ ``Lady B`` spoke, vs OM on weekdays, more music. S9+18.

When you think about it, of the several thousand US AM stations on 860 and above, it`s rather incredible that only an occasional one like this manages to get out on the second harmonic band 1720-3400 kHz. I suppose their harmonic filter slipped off (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. Sometimes the 5 MHz WWCR channels inboom in the nightmiddle, sometimes they are JBA. Oct 16 at 0540, 5890 and 5935 are very poor, so no problem for 5930, see RUSSIA; WTWW 5755 was somewhat better but non-solid, tnx to its rhombic being a little further away. However, I am equally totally uninterested in listening to Brother Scare, dead Doctor Gene Scott, and paranoid Pastor Pete Peters, respectively (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 3985-LSB, Oct 16 at 1145, Badger Weather Net, NCS KB9GO with lots of check-ins; instead of all communicating only with NCS, he tells each one to call another station, in a round-robin. One was N9HR; another KC0CXV or CXB? There was a weak AM carrier on frequency, but still needed BFO; per Aoki that would be Echo of Hope, and/or Juche jamming.

The final April 1, 2007 edition of Nets to You showed this with Not-DST and DST UTs:
1100 1000  3985   BADGER WEATHER (Wisconsin) Daily
Plus a number of other Wisconsin nets later on same frequency.

ARRL`s FCC lookup finds:
WILTSE, JOHN R, KB9GO, 4571 COUNTY TRUNK M, RUDOLPH, WI 54475
Wrensch, Thomas J, N9HR, N7900 Hillcrest St, Oconomowoc, WI 53066
But KC0CXV is in Nebraska and there is no -CXB, maybe misheard (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** VATICAN [non]. 11625, something in French, Oct 16 at 0452, i.e. Vatican via MADAGASCAR, 295 degrees at 0430-0500 (after which VR switches to its own SMG site for English). 11625 was almost the OSOB, joined only by French on 11690, i.e. R. Okapi via SOUTH AFRICA. A selective opening with bands above 10 MHz otherwise dead (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 1539, during WGBW 1590 test tuned around and detected a weak carrier here from the NE/SW, Oct 16 at 0528. An hour earlier and a few weeks later than last log, this could really be from Europe, i.e. 700 kW Evangeliumsrundfunk, Mainflingen, Germany. A weaker carrier on 1557, which would be 300 kW Nice, France. Nothing audible on 1521 or any other high-band TA frequencies (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 2855 approx., Oct 16 at 1142, SSB with inverted speech so uncopiable, tho sounded like a YL voice. Was checking the North Korean on 2850, which only had a JBA carrier today (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. Analog ch 48, the Univisión relay, continues to be seen here, but never with perfect video; has ghosting and sync problems. Peaks from NE direxion, where nothing is known on that channel. Can`t be too far away, as when in, stays steady signal.

Oct 16 from 0030 UT a weakish signal steadily builds up to good level by 0430. Also even better, checked next morning from 1300 UT, with kidvid. I was all set at 1359 to photo the local OKC/KUOK ID, but it didn`t appear. Again at 1459 did not see it, but signal was fading down, gone by 1530.

Earlier both Wichita and Tulsa DTVs were in including both KSNW-45 and KOTV-45, separable by rotation (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###