** ANTARCTICA. 15476, LRA36: Friday April 29 at 1304, S9 to S9+10 peaks but undermodulated talk by lively YLs; made out one word: ``micrófono``. Next check at 1314 had ACI from 15480 Greenville carrier until its 1315* [see USA]. As usual, RNASG weakened and by 1400 only trace, while ACI from other stations on both sides, 15470 and 15480 was stronger. Greenville back on 15480 earlier than usual at *1416:05 but cut off at 1435:30* after which there was no significant signal from Esperanza anyway.
Roberto Scaglione in Sicily has more news about it early April 29:
``Hi Glenn, I know something more every week. Last week (Monday 18 and Tuesday 19) they had some trouble to power generators, with a general blackout for a few hours on Monday. They are on air with 2 kW (just like WRTH says), a 5 kW transmitter but the generator does not have enough power. Email still not working. Phone number is working ONLY from Argentina. Until the next``
In Benelux DX, Maurits Van Driessche in Belgium apparently has not been hearing it, unlike last year when he frequently got LRA36 when we did not. He points to a Youtube about it, which is a 7-minute 2009 Spanish DX segment from RAE, illustrated with stills of the station and the base:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2TZf-Ta_Mc
From there you will also find linx to some others (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CANADA [and non]. 9625, CBCNQ Sackville still on the air with open carrier, April 29 at 0559 almost an hour after sign-off, vs stronger REE Costa Rica 9630; after 0600 both of them OC (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake April 29: Did not start checking until 1256, so hustled to scan the bands before usual break at 1300, after which some but not all come back:
10970, VG at 1257; no 7970 or anywhere below 10970; poor at 1323
13920, VG at 1258
14700, VG at 1258
15900, VG at 1320, somewhat stronger than 15970
15970, good at 1319
16100, VG at 1259-1300*; back on at 1319 check
16980, VG at 1259, 1319
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KUWAIT. 15540, R. Kuwait again on the air late after closing English at 2100, in Arabic at 2108 April 28, better than // 17750 which is supposed to be on until 2400 but much more subject to fading and fadeouts (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** LIBYA. 17725, VOAf from the GJ, April 29 at 1417, fair signal and modulation with YL talking about the beginning of the revolution in 1973, but nothing about the current counter-revolution! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** OKLAHOMA. Antenna TV, the début of which on KFOR-TV 27 had been delayed and delayed since network startup in January, first noted April 24 on 4.3 subchannel. It`s mostly reruns of old sitcoms, judged not to be a significant threat to the ratings of the main channel. 4.2 continues with weather. Antenna TV has already been running in several other markets, via spare DTV capacity only as the name implies, but hardly nationwide. After deleting lots of recent cookies, I am still hooked into nothing but the Antenna TV schedule when I go to zap2it on my Firefox. How to get that back to normal? I warn everyone not to click on the program schedule link at the Antenna TV website (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [and non]. 15480, R. Sawa monitoring April 29: pre-test caught at 1314-1315* concluding as usual with a weak tone. Apparently not back on until *1416:05, earlier than usual, but by then LRA36 is about gone from 15476 anyway [see ANTARCTICA]. Open carrier, until 1429:25 cut on modulation of YL rock song in English; 1430 cut to a different YL rock song in English --- presumably as before going from VOA Music Mix to Sawa feed. 17545 after 1430 as usual now in International Edition, news.
However, 15480 dumped off the air at 1435:30* before we could hear any Arabic announcements or news. Still off at 1500 and final check 1552, so apparently never came back before scheduled 1600*. Let us hope this means that GB received late word that the transmission had been cancelled, rather than another transmitter breakdown. We shall see, tomorrow (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1562 monitoring: our best early airing, UT Friday April 29 on WWRB 2390 and 5050, was missing from both frequencies! Instead, preaching or Bible reading. WWRB later answered my inquiry on what happened? ``Our Microwave link to charter cable was knocked out by the storms.`` I guess that means they could not download the program. Better luck next week?
On WRMI 9955: confirmed Friday April 29 at 1437; as usual, free of CCI during this semihour, but weaker than adjacent 9960 music and RTTY, no jamming below 9965. Next WORs: on WRMI, Saturday 0800, 1730, Sunday 0800, 1530, 1730. On WWCR: Friday 2030 on 15825, Saturday 1600 on 12160, Sunday 0630 on 3215. On IPAR: Saturday 1800 on 7290 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ZAMBIA. 13590, April 29 at 0606, gospel rock with VG signal toward Michigan, and fair at 1321 in English, so 1Africa is now back on its proper frequency after a few days on 13599.8 for the 06-20 broadcast. I suspect this is what happened: main transmitter broke down, and it was replaced by a different lower-powered backup unit, incapable of operating on the proper frequency. It might not even have been in Zambia. I heard 13599.8 April 25-27. Bill Bingham in South Africa had logged CVC using 13590 on April 22-23 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
Roberto Scaglione in Sicily has more news about it early April 29:
``Hi Glenn, I know something more every week. Last week (Monday 18 and Tuesday 19) they had some trouble to power generators, with a general blackout for a few hours on Monday. They are on air with 2 kW (just like WRTH says), a 5 kW transmitter but the generator does not have enough power. Email still not working. Phone number is working ONLY from Argentina. Until the next``
In Benelux DX, Maurits Van Driessche in Belgium apparently has not been hearing it, unlike last year when he frequently got LRA36 when we did not. He points to a Youtube about it, which is a 7-minute 2009 Spanish DX segment from RAE, illustrated with stills of the station and the base:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2TZf-Ta_Mc
From there you will also find linx to some others (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CANADA [and non]. 9625, CBCNQ Sackville still on the air with open carrier, April 29 at 0559 almost an hour after sign-off, vs stronger REE Costa Rica 9630; after 0600 both of them OC (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake April 29: Did not start checking until 1256, so hustled to scan the bands before usual break at 1300, after which some but not all come back:
10970, VG at 1257; no 7970 or anywhere below 10970; poor at 1323
13920, VG at 1258
14700, VG at 1258
15900, VG at 1320, somewhat stronger than 15970
15970, good at 1319
16100, VG at 1259-1300*; back on at 1319 check
16980, VG at 1259, 1319
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KUWAIT. 15540, R. Kuwait again on the air late after closing English at 2100, in Arabic at 2108 April 28, better than // 17750 which is supposed to be on until 2400 but much more subject to fading and fadeouts (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** LIBYA. 17725, VOAf from the GJ, April 29 at 1417, fair signal and modulation with YL talking about the beginning of the revolution in 1973, but nothing about the current counter-revolution! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** OKLAHOMA. Antenna TV, the début of which on KFOR-TV 27 had been delayed and delayed since network startup in January, first noted April 24 on 4.3 subchannel. It`s mostly reruns of old sitcoms, judged not to be a significant threat to the ratings of the main channel. 4.2 continues with weather. Antenna TV has already been running in several other markets, via spare DTV capacity only as the name implies, but hardly nationwide. After deleting lots of recent cookies, I am still hooked into nothing but the Antenna TV schedule when I go to zap2it on my Firefox. How to get that back to normal? I warn everyone not to click on the program schedule link at the Antenna TV website (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [and non]. 15480, R. Sawa monitoring April 29: pre-test caught at 1314-1315* concluding as usual with a weak tone. Apparently not back on until *1416:05, earlier than usual, but by then LRA36 is about gone from 15476 anyway [see ANTARCTICA]. Open carrier, until 1429:25 cut on modulation of YL rock song in English; 1430 cut to a different YL rock song in English --- presumably as before going from VOA Music Mix to Sawa feed. 17545 after 1430 as usual now in International Edition, news.
However, 15480 dumped off the air at 1435:30* before we could hear any Arabic announcements or news. Still off at 1500 and final check 1552, so apparently never came back before scheduled 1600*. Let us hope this means that GB received late word that the transmission had been cancelled, rather than another transmitter breakdown. We shall see, tomorrow (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1562 monitoring: our best early airing, UT Friday April 29 on WWRB 2390 and 5050, was missing from both frequencies! Instead, preaching or Bible reading. WWRB later answered my inquiry on what happened? ``Our Microwave link to charter cable was knocked out by the storms.`` I guess that means they could not download the program. Better luck next week?
On WRMI 9955: confirmed Friday April 29 at 1437; as usual, free of CCI during this semihour, but weaker than adjacent 9960 music and RTTY, no jamming below 9965. Next WORs: on WRMI, Saturday 0800, 1730, Sunday 0800, 1530, 1730. On WWCR: Friday 2030 on 15825, Saturday 1600 on 12160, Sunday 0630 on 3215. On IPAR: Saturday 1800 on 7290 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ZAMBIA. 13590, April 29 at 0606, gospel rock with VG signal toward Michigan, and fair at 1321 in English, so 1Africa is now back on its proper frequency after a few days on 13599.8 for the 06-20 broadcast. I suspect this is what happened: main transmitter broke down, and it was replaced by a different lower-powered backup unit, incapable of operating on the proper frequency. It might not even have been in Zambia. I heard 13599.8 April 25-27. Bill Bingham in South Africa had logged CVC using 13590 on April 22-23 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
