venerdì 10 dicembre 2010

Glenn Hauser logs December 8-10, 2010

** ANTARCTICA [and non]. 15476, LRA36 concludes its fourth week of silence, not a trace Dec 10 at 1350, tho Turkey 15480 was in poorly (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CANADA. 9625, Dec 9 at 0615, S9+20 tone test, CBCNQ transmitter again running after-hours for reasons unknown (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CUBA. 6120 and 5040, RHC Spanish both with open carrier, Dec 9 at 0620 and later, except 5040 has the constant squeal.

13680, RHC missing at 1347 Dec 10, and consequently no leapfrog on 13880, despite 13780 being on as usual. Instead, 13680 had R. Farda; see IRAN [non] (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also USA [and non], WRMI and WOR with Cuban jamming

** EGYPT. 9305, R. Cairo General Program relay now runs until 0700, seldom audible. But it was Dec 9 at 0616, tnx to propagational improvement, music and Arabic talk, not even too distorted (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** GUAM. 5765-USB, AFN is back again after missing several days: Dec 10 at 1251 very weak but can make out some music in WTWW splash. 1304 after WTWW QSY, 5765 in talk, presumed hourtop news, but usual local problem here from DTV cable converter box bubble-jamming; 1305 back to music, so perhaps AFN has resumed the country rather than news-talk stream (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** INDONESIA. The Cimanggis twins on 31m, VOI 9526- and RRI 9680, were both well audible before 1500 Dec 9 but both off at 1504 check. As always, 9526- suffered from IADs. Also Dec 10 at 1300, 9526- opening English with IDs, IADs; music still being interrupted around 1450 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** IRAN [non]. 13680, RHC absent tho supposedly scheduled 13-15 UT, Dec 10 at 1347, instead good reception of R. Farda, including English clips voiced-over info Farsi. Also short/longpath echo. 13680 is 250 kW, 105 degrees via Wertachtal, GERMANY at 1230-1600 per Aoki and HFCC (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** JAPAN [and non]. 9695 and 9625, Dec 9 at 1222, NHK in English with report on health in Somalia. Both loud and clear, steady, but 9625 has lo het from victimized CBC Northern Québec, always off-frequency. 9625 is 175 degrees; 9695 is 235 degrees from Yamata (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** KOREA NORTH [and non]. 3320, NK triumphal choral music, Dec 10 at 1244, slightly stronger than Indo/PNG 3325. At 1247, similar choral music on stronger S9+15 2850+, slightly on the hi side compared to KOA or whatever on 850. I don`t think 2850 and 3320 are supposed to be //, however. Yet stronger signals with het on 3480/3481, and here the Korean talk was quite readable. Strangely, when I am getting these 2-3 MHz DPRK signals, I never hear anything on 3560, the listed VOK feeder (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** KOREA NORTH [non]. 5985, reactivated frequency for Shiokaze, ex-5910, as previously caught by Ron Howard: Dec 9 at 1416, YL in Japanese on this Thursday, piano music underneath, 1418 ID. Fair with just barely audible (JBA) het presumably from Myanmar, and no jamming audible yet. Via JSR, Tokyo (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** LIBYA. 17725, V. of Africa, the second day back on clear frequency, Dec 9 at 1425, but just barely modulated, same on // 21695. Also at 1523, way under-modulated on 21695 // 17725, could only make out one of their stale music riffs, not confirm language as scheduled English. Dec 10 at 1423, improved modulation, still on 17725 ex-17800 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MEXICO. 660, Dec 10 at 1325, 6:25 timecheck ``en La Tremenda, Número Uno``, after referring to addresses on Avenida Sexta Norte. This is 5 kW XEACB, in Ciudad Delicias, Chihuahua, UT -7 zone. I no longer find Chihuahuans all over the dial in the mornings as I did in October, altho maybe not hitting the right sunrise enhancement window (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** OKLAHOMA. Despite my visit with Samantha Sabedra Nov 30, informing her I was listening to what had turned out to be a 2-year-old Talking House loop from her about a house no longer on the market, she left the 1690 transmitter running continuously with that from her home, as heard whenever I was near enough thru Dec 7. But on Dec 8 at 2215 UT 1690 was missing, so I started tuning down the band on the caradio, and soon heard her again, this time on 1570.

But this appears to be a new loop, since she now calls herself Samantha Kennington, dropping the Sabedra. (On her website
http://www.samanthakennington.com/default.html
in listing of herself ``top producer`` and colleagues, she is still hyphenated Sabedra-Kennington.)

And 1570 is still coming from her residence at 607 W Elm, but the home she is pushing now is a 2BR at 1910 East Ash, more than three miles to the ENE. At local range, there is a lot of hum, which was not affecting the 1690. Her punch line now is ``your new home for the holidays``.

The next morning, Dec 9, 1570 was not heard on Elm, and when I went by less than a mile from the Ash address, it was not heard either, but I suspect it was on the way to being installed there, which I will have to visit directly.

1570 was the frequency she was using from 1330 W. Elm in August 2008 when I first heard her. Skywave QRM is quite a bit worse, as when I first heard it this time after 22 UT, numerous real stations were vying for Enid listener, headed by XERF (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTSENING DIGEST)

** POLAND [non]. 9460, PRES, Dec 10 at 1306 poor with `running-water` intermittent ute QRM (note: ute is simply short for utility and NOT an initialism; should NOT be capitalized). 1308 Polish Radio ID amid English newscast. Poor signal but no QRM yet, with WTWW 9479 either not quite on yet or not built up to blockbuster daytime strength.

11860, then I hear the // PRES channel at 1310 with more English news, almost as good as 9460, but with ACI from YFR 11855. Unusual.

11860 is 125 kW, 45 degrees from Woofferton UK, nowhere near USward.
9460 is 100 kW, 300 degrees from Austria, also USWard. This is about the best we can expect from Poland in B-seasons. Or is it?

Further NE in NAm, their only other English broadcast, at 18-19 on 9650, 250 kW, 330 degrees via UAE, is reported with good signals in Michigan per Harold Frodge, and in Québec per Gilles Letourneau, so I check that Dec 10 at 1807: yes, not bad, can copy with some effort, and no QRM (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** RUSSIA [and non]. 7335, surprised to hear loud and clear S9+25+ signal from V. of Russia in English Dec 10 at 0631 headlines, then ``In Focus``. Goodbye, Tunisia --- I could barely tell it was underneath during VOR pauses.

7335 is of course the Guiana French relay scheduled only for Voz de Rusia Spanish until 0600* with that sign-off just reconfirmed a few nights before. So has VOR finally taken notice of our complaints that in Spanish they are giving targeted US listeners (not Mexican, tho they can surely hear it well too) this excellent relay signal, while forcing listeners in English to strain to hear weak and unreliable signals from Eurasia?

Afraid not. Must have been a SNAFU at Montsinéry, as at next check 0641 folk music is being heard. At first I thought it was still VOR in a different program, but it was soon obviously Arabic, and VOR had cut off the air late in the meantime.

Tunisia registered only S9+18, a respectable signal itself without the co-channel. Meanwhile I had checked the only VOR direct frequencies in English to NAm, via DVR, 9840 and 9855, to find them inaudible, making 7335 an infinitely greater improvement. But only a fluke, I fear (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SPAIN. 17595, listening to the REE weekday Basque service from 1330, Friday Dec 10 at 1352 in Basque talk, mixed with axuality clips in Castilian, but chopped off at 1355 without closing, cutting immediately to program promos for ``Tablero Deportivo`` and ``La Hora de Asia``, then music fill. Another victory of automation over humanity (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
 
** TUNISIA. 7335: see RUSSIA [and non]!

** U K [non]. 7540, fair Dec 10 at 1257, B-B-C- chimes, 1259:35 cut to Chinese opening, 1300 no timesignal, ID and onward. This is 250 kW, 20 degrees via Nakhon Sawan, THAILAND, so also USward, M-F at 1300-1530 per Aoki. Strangely, no jamming noted so far (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A [and non]. VOA English absent from 9760, Dec 9 at 1449, altho scheduled during this hour, 250 kW, 300 degrees from THAILAND, M-F only but this was Thursday! Doubtful due to propagation, since BBC 9740 Singapore was audible OK. Kept monitoring 9760 at 1500 and still nothing. Finally on at *1501 joining news in progress, and also seemed source of brief spur/het around 9725 which I was also monitoring. After 9760, the VOA site is Tinang, Philippines, daily. 1505 into English learning, rather than substantial regional or world news in depth.

9725, Dec 9 at 1452 open carrier with het from 9724 (so not a tone from 9725); but at 1456 the het is gone, just the 9725 carrier. 1458, Yankee Doodle Dandy VOA sign-on, but it`s just barely modulated (or underneath a stronger S9+15 open carrier?). 1500 opening in language but can`t tell which.

Aoki says it`s Vietnamese via Tinang, PHILIPPINES. I wonder if the het and carrier are signs of some ineffective Commie Vietnamese jamming? At 1502 it still seems like VOA Viet is under a stronger carrier; also with SSB 2-way QRM from circa 9720 as previously logged under UNIDENTIFIED.

It`s another Friday, Dec 10, so I am hoping VOA will again fire up Greenville on 17715 so I can hear Reporters` Notebook at 1430. But at 1359, Yankee Doodle sign-on is very poor, and not improving, still unusable at 1430, must still be scheduled Botswana nor can I find VOA on any other readable frequency, 9, 11, or 15 MHz bands. So GB last week must have been a fluke or a tempsub.

Sometimes Greenville could be in use, but skipping over. This time, however, at 1449, I am even getting the peanut-powered WINB harmonic on 18530 at similar distance, so GB should have been inbooming if on (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 18530, WINB on 2 x 9265, Dec 9 at 1424, JBA with Brother Scare; also Dec 10 at 1449; see also USA: VOA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. Thomas Nyberg in Iowa asks: ``Question. Does WINB still only have two frequencies 9265 and 13570 kHz, or is there another one?``

WINB did have a third frequency, 9355 in the latter part of A-10 for the hours during which Brother Scare had replaced Tony Alamo on weekdays, since BS wanted to be on 9 MHz band instead of 13, but 9265 was supposedly not available between 16 and 21, registered for the long-silent WMLK, but WMLK if on would take Saturdays/Sabbaths off according to doctrine, the opposite of Brother Scare`s, so BS did use 9265 thru midday Saturdays only. The substitute frequency started off being 9335, but after several weeks, WBCQ complained of adjacent QRM to 9330, so WINB was persuaded to move to 9355. WINB had waited a full year after his convixion until July 2010 to cancel Tony Alamo. Is that unclear?

I had not reconfirmed 9355 in B-10, but assumed it would still be in use. However, checked at 1919 UT [2:19 pm EST] Dec 8, 13570 is on, not with BS, but with the androgynous anapaestic preacher, i.e. Global Spirit Proclamation, from remote Fence Lake, New Mexico (in a fortified compound?). Not on 9355, which had a weak signal from something else.

At 1957 I check 13570 again to catch a frequency change announcement, but it is already off. So I then start monitoring 9355 and other frequencies around there. WINB never shows up; 9355 at 1958 has YFR IS, mixing with something else, i.e. IBB Saipan. At 2000 YFR starts Romanian from Okeechobee, tho quite weak here.

At 2002 I check 13570 once again, and now it is back on, not with BS but with more of GSP!

Undated and always outdated SW schedule page from Overcomer Ministry
ftp://www.overcomerministry.org/RadioSchedule/Short%20Wave%20Radio.html
shows as of Dec 8: WINB 9355 11Am-12 & 2Pm-4Pm  Mon-Fri
i.e. EST, which in UT now would be 16-17 and 19-21 M-F.

However, neither TOM nor WINB may have adjusted for the one-hour time shift post-EDT, which ought to put the BS hours to 17-18 and 20-22 UT M-F. Furthermore, we have now confirmed that TOM/BS is no longer on WINB before or after 2000 UT, so they don`t need to use a frequency other than 13570.

How about the 17-18 UT hour? Gone too? {Not checked until Dec 10 at 1702: yes, no BS, so no need for his special frequency 9355 [nor 18710], and WINB is also on 13570 at this time with some other non-BS, non-GSP preachers.}

Of course there is a third frequency unintentionally, 18530 = 2 x 9265. Same wobbly transmitter probably also harmonicizes on 27140 = 2 x 13570, if it would only propagate.

Consulting the long-outdated WINB program schedule at
http://www.winb.com/schedule.htm will only cause needless confusion (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A [and non]. WORLD OF RADIO 1542, first SW airing less than an hour after it was finished, 0430 UT Thursday Dec 9 on WRMI, was totally blocked by wall-of-noise from the DentroCuban Jamming Command, endorsed and probably frequency-managed by Arnie Coro, whose own DX program never gets jammed.

I did confirm WOR was airing, however, by WRMI webcast. WRMI is often barely- or in-audible even when not jammed, but on this occasion it should have been, as neighbor WYFR was quite good on 9985.

The latest WRMI schedule updated Dec 4 shows WORLD OF RADIO at:
Thu 0430, 1600, 2200
Fri 1530
Sat 0900, 1500, 1830
Sun 0900, 1630, 1830
Tue 1630, 2330
Wed 0130, 1630
Strictly UT days and times. With a little luck, a few of them may be unjammed, or lightly jammed, and propagating not only to the south.

9955 is not always jammed: Dec 9 at 1447, R. Prague in French was in the clear.

WWCR airings of WOR, to be reconfirmed this week if airing as scheduled, since two of them did not last week:
Fri 2130  7465
Sat 1700 12160 (was on 7490 Dec 4)
Sun 0330  4840 (missing Dec 4)
Sun 0730  3215

ACB Radio webcast of WOR 1542 confirmed at 1600 UT Friday Dec 10. There has been some confusion about their new scheduling, now intended to be on even-UT Friday hours, contrary to displayed schedule still showing odd hours (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. It`s always interesting to compare how US SW signals are propagating here to the Great Center of NAm, as skip zones are fluxuating, besides all the other variables. Dec 9 at 1225, the often solid BBCWS relay via WHRI on 9410 from SC is very poor, while just a little further away, WTJC on 9370 from NC has a good signal (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. Since I have been awake by 1230 UT, more chances to check out what the 3160, WPJK harmonic from Orangeburg SC is doing. Besides radiating far too much power on 2 x 1580, and not signing on at official sunrise 1215 in December, they don`t always hit the intended 1230 opening either.

Dec 9 at 1230, no signal. Keep monitoring with BFO off-tuned to alert me the instant they turn on the transmitter: *1236:30 carrier, 1237:10 canned sign-on, rather muffled, not as good as last time, quickly into Gospel Train, with one Q-toot; S9+15 with 2-way SSB on the side.

Also Dec 10 at 1230, no signal. Finally *1239:32 carrier, 1239:55 sign-on, S9+18, best yet and now I make out a few missing words from previous recording:

``This is WPJK. WPJK is now beginning another broadcasting day. WPJK is owned and operated by WPJK, on 1580 kHz with output power of 1,000 watts, by authority of the Federal Communications Commission in Washington, DC. WPJK business office, studio, transmitter, and tower located at 175 Cannon Bridge Road, in Orangeburg. I`m Reverend T. G. Paul McGee [?] station manager at WPJK. And now we begin another broadcasting day.`` 

And then he re-introduces himself as host of the Gospel Train show, starting with only one Q-toot again today. I am more sure of his name as above than as previously heard ``Carmody``, but still no Google hits on McGee or Magee in connexion with WPJK.

Note he does not mention possessing a harmonic filter or suppressor! Here is a clip of the December 10 sign-on, 256 kb:
http://www.w4uvh.net/WPJK.rm
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. Trans-Pacific MW carrier search not undertaken for a few mornings until Dec 10, 1313-1320 UT with internal antenna, DX-398 on 9-kHz steps, BFO slightly offtuned for easy spotting of carriers: 594, 693, 747 (best), 774, 828, 882, 972, 1044, 1242, 1422, 1566 kHz.

I was also getting unstable signals on 873, 1053 which may have been of local origin; and curiously on 1134 a slightly varying carrier, perhaps two of them making a subaudible het (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 3322 approx., Dec 9 at 0626, I am hearing steady beeps at the rate of 108 per minute. BFO needed but they are not pure CW. Could be a HIFER beacon? Not noted previously, just far enough away from CHU 3330. No frequency around here on the list:
http://www.highfrequencybeaconsociety.com/The_Societies_Beacons.html
tho the format is similar for some, e.g. 100 dits per minute.
Meanwhile, the continuous ``OK`` CW beacon allegedly not far from here in northern OK was coming in well on 3450. I should go out and try to locate it sometime (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 5954.9, Dec 10 at 0635, het with something weaker on 5955.0 (listed RNW via Portugal), with 5954.9 tentatively in Spanish, but too much splash from WYFR 5950. Could it be R. República via ELCOR, Costa Rica, varied upward from usual 5954.1-5954.2 area, and on extended schedule since they have suspended hi-power relays via WRMI and RCI? Anyhow there was no jamming around 5955, as there always is earlier in evening. Or 5954.9 could be a spur from elsewhere (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###