sabato 20 novembre 2010

Glenn Hauser logs November 19-20, 2010

** CHINA. Firedrake Nov 20: 8400, good at 1350. No others found until 1430 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** GUATEMALA. 4052.5-, R. Verdad, Nov 20 at 0602 amid national anthem before closing, fair and clear signal. TGAV has decided to move to 4055 once a new crystal can be obtained, to facilitate tuning on 5-kHz-step receivers, and to be further from Kyrgyzstan and Missouri on 4050 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MALAYSIA. 5030, RMS now managing to provide some music and talk audio, Nov 20 at 1340, poor vs Cuba 5025. Still, it`s the OSOB from Asia. Now it has some competition from Radio Free Sarawak, yet to be heard here (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** KUWAIT. 9750, Nov 20 at 1352 Qur`an, mixing with Japanese from NHK Yamata, 1400 into ME music and Arabic talk, I think, so presumed Kuwait as scheduled 1100-1600, 300 kW, 275 degrees; rather than Malaysia, 100 kW, 150 degrees. Between 12 and 16 all three are registered here per HFCC (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** NEWFOUNDLAND. 3485-SSB, 0620 Nov 20, immediately after New York Radio [see USA], ``This is Gander Radio, time 0620 zulu``, with VOLMET. I am paying attention to the mixture of units: winds in knots, ceilings in unspecified units but sound like feet; visibility in miles. Not giving any temps or altimeters yet, as starts with 2- to 24-hour ``temporary`` conditions, i.e. forecasts (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** NIGERIA [non]. 7350, still trying to hear whether R. Nigeria, Abuja is still here, vs the QRM. Sat Nov 20 at 0611, a very weak carrier could be it. No sign of BBC French via Skelton, which B-10 is supposedly scheduled 0600-0630 daily, 300 kW, 195 degrees. Perhaps they have left in deference to Nigeria, or not really daily? Other Eurafsigs were in well, Vatican on 7360 to 0627*, Tunisia 7335 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SPAIN [non]. Since REE`s own schedules are contradictory and unreliable, I make a point of monitoring UT Saturday Nov 20 at 0605 on 5965 via COSTA RICA: yes, this is the correct time for ``Amigos de la Onda Corta``, their DX program in Spanish, started at 0605:35, with considerable co-channel from Vatican, as these two stations have enjoyed colliding with each other here for years. The // 25m frequencies from Spain direct were not propagating.

Closing electronic theme kept going past 1-second-late timesignal at 0630, along with CCI and SAH from Vatican under; finally at 0631:25 opens next show, like last week ``Edición Exclusiva``, not the mailbag (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** UGANDA [non]. 17725, standing by for weekly clandestine Redio Y`Abaganda, now scheduled for only 15 minutes via FRANCE, Saturdays 1700-1715: Nothing there at 1659, so I quickly check 12160 to confirm WORLD OF RADIO 1539 is airing nominally on WWCR: it is, excellent signal with reverby audio from the bottom of the barrel.

When I get back to 17725 at 1700:30, RYA is on with anthem or Christian-sounding hymn. It is cut off abruptly at 1702:30, for opening in vernacular, and I think a few words of English, but so heavily accented it`s hard to differentiate from the vern. Is it really Swahili as per Aoki? Listened a few more minutes, and sounds extremely amateurish, recorded on lofi consumer equipment, bad phone quality audio, saying hello? Hello? Trying to get someone to answer. Signal was sufficient, but no comparison to VOA Portuguese 17740 which had just signed on and was splattering 17725-17755; presumably Greenville rather than Sackville (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A [and non]. WORLD OF RADIO 1539 confirmed on WWCR 7465, VG signal Friday Nov 19 but starting a sesquiminute late at 2131:30, as previous program ran over; probably had to start a bit late after frequency change at 2100. But WOR played to conclusion 2200, then into Spanish. Also VG Saturday Nov 20 at 1700 on 12160. Remaining airings are UT Sunday 0330 on 4840, 0730 on 3215.

Also circa Europe remember our new frequency via IPAR/IRRS/NEXUS-IBA, 6090 via SLOVAKIA, Saturdays at 1900 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 3485-SSB, WSY70, a.k.a. New York Radio is reactivated on this frequency, Nov 20 at 0616 with VOLMET for places such as Miami, Nassau, Atlanta. And heard same locales repeated at 0619. Strange mixture of metric and American units: temps in Celsius, altimeters (barometric pressure) in inches of mercury. Until 0620*, ``New York Radio, out`` and Gander takes over immediately: see NEWFOUNDLAND (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 1340, Sat Nov 20 at 1326 UT, something in Spanish is atop the graveyard jumble, ad for Mariscos Bicentenario and other local items, but can`t catch any identifiable addresses; 1328 mentions mil trescientos cuarenta, frequency in Spanish, later sounds Spanglish. I was hoping that was name of a restaurant which could be Googled to some 1340 town, but the few hits lead to Chile; unlikely to be CB134, CC134 or CD134. Apparently it is the name of a dish instead, and of course the bicentennial of Mexico is in progress, but doubt it`s unAmerican. As the signal was somewhat steady, suspect it could have just been KJMU Sand Springs OK, near Tulsa if they are now doing any such programming (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 9825, S9+15 open carrier with hum, Nov 20 at 0613. Nothing scheduled on 9825 between 0300 and 0755. NHK Yamata is next, but this signal could be RFI via GUF tuning up for Spanish from 1000. Only guesses (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 15141.5-SSB, Nov 20 at 1436 Spanish 2-way, het from 15140, presumably OMAN, which fails to assert any dominance over this frequency, the day before marred by OTH radar (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###