domenica 9 ottobre 2011

Glenn Hauser logs October 8-9, 2011

** CHINA. Firedrake Oct 9 in the ChiCom noon hour:
13920, fair at 0447, none others found 10-18+ MHz until 0450

Before 1400:
10300, poor at 1351
13920, fair at 1351
14700, fair at 1352
15900, fair at 1353
16100, very poor at 1353, none higher

After 1400:
15795, fair at 1424 // 14970. Altho before 1315 AIR Mandarin service steady on 15795, gets hit by ChiCom jamming, at this semihour the target is Sound of Hope via Tajikistan, per Aoki jumping 15750-15795
14970, fair at 1424
13960, fair at 1424
12600, fair at 1426
10300, poor at 1426; no 7970
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISGTENING DIGEST)

** ETHIOPIA [non]. 15370, Oct 9 at 1700, quite weak signal but something is there, now scheduled daily 1700-1800 as new clandestine broadcast by ESAT (Ethiopian Satellite Television, radio side). See
http://www.ethsat.com/ESAT_Radio_Launch_Press_Release_07_Oct_2011.htm
Last month it had tested various frequencies in the 15.7s. Site uncertain now; Wolfgang Büschel suggests via TDP, Issoudun, France? Ivo Ivanov suggests Armenia or Moldova. Weaker here than e.g. 15380 listed as IBB, 250 kW via Nauen, Germany. France should be more audible here if 15370 be thence. 15370 is bound to be jammed, and ESAT say they will add more frequencies if necessary. Wolfgang says there may be an additional transmission on Saturday and/or Sunday at 1830-1930 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** KOREA NORTH. 11710, Oct 9 at 1315, super-pompous VOK announcer concluding news mentions a string of other countries, but does not pronounce Austria as ``Austriar`` even tho he pronounces Korea as ``Korear`` --- what`s with that? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** KUWAIT. 15540, Oct 8 at 1930, R. Kuwait starting `Kuwait in the Heart of History` until 1942 UT back to Western pop music. Discussed border issues with Iraq (or whatever it was previously) since 1750y.

That reminds me, in map perusal of the 1960s, one could see two ``Neutral Zones``, one a diamond on the W side of Kuwait between Saudi Arabia and Iraq, and another parallelogramish on the S side between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. IIRC, hams tried to activate these as separate radio countries, natch. Should be interesting to research. Googling includes:
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/785/whats-up-with-the-neutral-zones-near-saudi-arabia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudi-Iraqi_neutral_zone
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudi-Kuwaiti_neutral_zone
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MAURITANIA. 7245, Sunday Oct 9 at 0452, IGIM is already on in Arabish squeezed between 7240 DW Rwanda English and 7250 Vatican French [q.v.]. You never know when IGIM will turn on its transmitter; last night not until 0600 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MEXICO. Pre/sunrise MW DX Oct 9, UT:

610, Oct 9 at 1158 UT, mañanitas but talkover about XEBX Sabinas celebrating its 65th anniversary, also mentioned Monclova, which is the next city down Hwy 57 to Monterrey. Cantú:
610 XEBX La Primera Sabinas, Coah. 5,000 500
Homepage
http://www.radioxebx.com/ does not give exact date, but:

``ACERCA DE RADIO XEBX 610AM

XEBX es la estación más tradicional en el norte del estado de Coahuila; grandes artistas y locutores han desfilado por los pasillos de esta emisora desde el día en que su primera transmisión salió al aire para la región carbonífera más importante del país.

La Primera, empieza sus transmisiones en el año de 1936 en Sabinas, Coah. y desde ese momento esta radiodifusora es ya un símbolo de arraigo cultural e histórico de la región.

XEBX la Primera, es de las pocas estaciones en el norte del país que continúan desde sus inicios con el mismo formato en su programación. Sus ondas radiales llevan la música mexicana a través de sus 5 mil watts de potencia; esto mismo permite poder escuchar los mejores intérpretes del género ranchero, grupero y el ritmo de los grupos vallenatos.``

Original text lax accents except tildes, in the strange priority so many SS employ, so inserted by gh, and spelling and comma splices also corrected with semicolons, etc.

1000, Oct 9 at 1209 UT, KTOK OKC is surprisingly off, so I hunt for anything else. From N/S, Ciudad de México is mentioned weakly, probably really remnant of XEOY, and from E/W, unfortunately the only station heard was the one I get anyway by nulling KTOK:
1214 polca music, Spanish interviews talking over polcas; 1222 IFE et al. PSAs; 1223 ``La Rancherita, Mil A-M``; 1235 still in with same ID, program `La Polca del Domingo`. It is:
1000 XEFV La Rancherita Cd. Juárez, Chih. 1,000 D

1030, Oct 9 at 1242 UT, Mexican NA at very odd hour; Sunday morning operator overslept? 1241 R. Fórmula ID but not sure if from same station. Once again the only such station listed by Cantú is the often-heard one:
1030 XEYC Radio Fórmula Cd. Juárez, Chih. 5,000 500

1200, Oct 9 at 1222, some Mexican music is making it instead of WOAI. Of the seven listed, probably one of these two:
1200 XEWT W Radio + FM 97.7 Culiacán, Sin.   1,000 250
1200 XEYF Radio Fórmula     Hermosillo, Son. 1,000 250
WRTO Chicago is also conceivable but I certainly have not been getting much from the north in the mornings (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** NIGERIA. 15120, Oct 9 at 0442, S9+15 hum and whine on VON carrier; 0449 in drumming, other native instruments, tweeting in IS vs hum (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** OKLAHOMA. 1000, Sunday Oct 9 at 1209 UT, I find that KTOK OKC is OFF, allowing stations from Mexico [q.v.] thru unimpeded. Very unusual. Still off at 1251 check; not checked again until 1545 when it was back. BTW, KTOK never runs IBOC any more, whew (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** OKLAHOMA. 1580, Oct 9 at 1227 UT, KOKB Blackwell has lost feed from Stillwater again, open carrier only, atop some other station with music. // 1020 KOKP Perry is nominal. By 1248, KOKB has started modulating sports talk (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1585 monitoring: confirmed on WTWW 5755, UT Sunday Oct 9 after 0400, VG signal. Some further airings:
Sun 1530, 1730, WRMI 9955
Mon 0300v, WBCQ 5110v-CUSB via Area 51
Mon 1130, 1530, 2130, WRMI 9955
Tue 0930, HLR 5980 Germany [how about some reports on this?]
Tue & Wed 1530, WRMI 9955
Full schedule updated:
http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A [and non]. 680, Oct 9 at 1200 UT, KNBR is dominating with ID as ``The Sports Leader`` but same announcer then blithely introducing `The Commonwealth Club`, breaking format, but who cares at 5 am Sunday?? [Also had Mormon Tabernacle Choir again after 1230 on KNX 1070.] Is hour-long discussion with CEO bigwigs about public vs private partnerships. C.C. originates in San Francisco and is mostly heard on public radio stations, such as KQED which was mentioned in the intro. Mexican NA dimly audible underneath. There are 8 possibilities west of Yucatán, 3 in NW México (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 930, Oct 9 at 1206 UT, PSAs for Alcoholix Anonymous, charter schools, then ID for ``930-AM, KCCC, Carlsbad``. Tnx to sharp null possible with WKY OKC during its weekly English semi-hour. This New Mexican may be `personal first` from OK; is non-direxional 1000 W daytime, 60 watts nite, but 500 watts PSRA which would have started at 1200 (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 990, Oct 9 at 1253 UT, ``Radioexitosfm.net en KFCD, gracias al Metroplex``, as previously researched, but good to get a definite call letter ID (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 1140, Oct 9 at 1245 UT, ``W [doble-u], la más mexicana, [URL] en su Blackberry`` by super-hype voice actor. Nothing fits on Cantú`s Mexican listings, so default to USA, where we google KLTK in Centerton, northwest Arkansas,
http://www.lamasmexicana1140.com/
But I don`t know where the W comes from; some affiliation with that even more Mexican group? Overrides OKC for a while (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 1190, Oct 9 at 1230 UT instead of a Mexican, Spanish here is ``La 11-90`` from WSW, 1231 temp ``en el aeropuerto de Phoenix``, time as 5:31, so KNUV, COL Tolleson AZ. NRC AM Log shows it as ``Grupo Fórmula``. Website confirms slogan I heard:
http://www.onda1190am.com/
with wide variety of programming, radio-locator.com coverage map, street view of building, etc.

FCC AM query shows 5 kW day, 250 watts nite, contrary to KNUV`s claim of 400 watts nite. No PSRA info nor in NRC AM Log, so must have been on nite power, whatever that is (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 1510, Oct 9 at 1226, Yahoo Sports Radio; KCTE Independence MO is a listed affiliate but there is no het and not from the NE, so must be the other one in NRC AM Log, KCKK Littleton CO. (It`s the odd station with 25 kW night, 10 kW day, aside from pattern changes.) At 1248 there is a het on 1510+ as off-frequency daytimer KCTE has come on and is now dominant (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** VATICAN. 7250, Oct 9 at 0452, VR is back in French; was absent 23 hours earlier (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** WALES. 24962-USB, Oct 8 at 1855,``MW0ZZK in a small village on the west coast of Wales``, making numerous contest contacts such as a W6, among many other TA signals on 12m. Along with several photos of his antennas on the QRZ.com lookup page:
MW0ZZK
Steve Redmond
QSL via EB7DX [Spain]
Abersoch
Wales
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 1360, Oct 9 at 1254, Spanish mentions Arizona, soon losing to Catholix from KS or TX. NRC AM Log has KPXQ Glendale, 50/1 kW, ``The Christian Station`` but not as Spanish. Nor does own website, English only:
http://www.kpxq1360.com/ProgramGuide/?channel=ProgramGuide&parent1=root
so the Arizona mention must have been a false lead.

Only SS listed in NRC-AM Log anywhere around here is KMNY Hurst TX (Metroplex), which would have been on 50 kW day power since 1230 UT in Oct, but with null towards us accounting for poor signal (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 6923+, Oct 9 at 0455, music on AM, from some pirate; *0458:30 hit by het from a stronger pirate on 6925+ until one of them went off at 0502; no announcements heard (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 17820, Oct 8 at *2018 big open carrier on and off, like Greenville does around 1308 UT pre-VOA Portuguese 1700, but this? Could still be GB for some reason, but the next big broadcast on 17820 is DW via WHRI at 22-23, due to expire at end of A-11 along with many other DW transmissions, making Furman into even more of a white elephant (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)