sabato 19 novembre 2011

Glenn Hauser logs November 14-15, 2011

This log report of a few days ago apparently did not get sent to most of my usual mailing list. Glenn, Nov 19

** ALBANIA [and non]. 7425, Nov 15 at 0044 check, R. Tirana Albanian hour again has heavy CCI from CHINA, while 7420 is vacant, where I keep advising them to shift, like already for English at 0230, as reconfirmed at 0255 closing (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** ANTARCTICA. 15476, Nov 15 at 1341, nothing detectable from LRA36, during its last reported schedule of Tue & Thu 13-15. Maybe Thursday, but never heard for some weeks now (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CANADA. 9625, Nov 15 at 0643, fluttery S9+20 open carrier, no doubt Sackville still kilowasting kilowatts after CBCNQ service closes at 0606. Would those monitoring thru our night check whether it is still on hours later? CBCNQ resumes circa 1200. Maybe the old transmitter needs to be left on forever, in which case CBC might as well modulate it with more programming (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHINA. Firedrake Nov 15, before 1400:
12230, poor at 1334; none lower
12670, fair with flutter at 1334
13970, good with flutter at 1337
15395, good at 1342, // 15760. Aoki Oct 31 did not show anything anywhere anywhen on 15395; probably due to V. of Tibet`s Tajikistan jumper from listed 15433. HFCC Nov 11 also lacks any 15395 listing
15760, good at 1338; this one is on different area frequencies from one day to the next
16100, very good with flutter at 1344; none in the 17s, 18s
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CUBA [and non]. Timings of the two `floating` English broadcasts of RHC have now been confirmed by monitoring, despite inaccess to RHC website info: Altho on the first day of all the timeshifts, Sunday Nov 13, there was no signal on 11760 before or after 2000, it may have come on late, since Nov 14 at 2011, RHC English is in progress, so now it is one hour later at 20-21. Meanwhile, 13640 to Europe was in Portuguese.

Why in the world doesn`t RHC put this English hour on the European antenna? Originally it was for Europe at 21 or 20 UT, but now it`s just for somewhere in the Americas. Europe gets only programs in French, Portuguese, Arabic(!), Spanish. So any UKOBGANIans who might want (?) to hear RHC in English need to do so in their mornings, like via the frequency up the east coast of NAm, 6060 at 05-07 carrying onward. In North America, on the contrary, there are NO English broadcasts in our mornings, so should listen in the evening into the madrugada, if ever. The 11760 signal remains fair at best at 2000+.

The 5040 `tropical band` targetless transmission in Spanish has a hole at 00-02, no doubt for English, French, Creole? And UT Nov 15 at 0043 we confirm that English is now at 00-01 instead of 23-24 during the summer. Lots of stuff including the entire Spanish schedule shifting one UT hour later took place two weeks after Cuba itself went off DST Oct 30, one week after North America did; so while the rest of the world had only one Week of Confusion, RHC has two+.

9540, Nov 15 at 1325 check at first thought RHC missing from this weak new frequency, still reeling from the whopping it got from WHRI on Sunday; but then detected typical RHC music // 9850, but 9540 now co-channel to Chinese, i.e. colliding with CRI via Kunming, Commies vs Commies!

The Commies are still jamming our Voice of America, during the morning newscast for the entire continent, `Buenos Días, América`, having concluded that VOA is just as bad as Radio Martí. VOA 13750 at 1336 Nov 15 is readable here mixed with heavy noise jamming, as are // 15590 at 1339, and 9885, all Greenville, which BTW is now offering new QSL cards for postal reports sent directly.

On the contrary, surely by mistake still confused by B-11 scheduling, 15330 with R. Martí playing ``Downtown`` by Pet Clerk at 1428, fading her down at 1430 for ID and news, is not yet jammed; At 1505 recheck, jamming is running but RM is atop it.

RHC must realize they are likely to get any frequency announcements wrong after all the changes, since they are still skipping any mention of frequencies! I monitored the TOH breaks Nov 15 at 1359 and 1500, both times going directly from RHC IS and ID into slanted news. I noticed that 13670 stayed on not only past 1400, but past 1500 at 1517 final check, contrary to the new schedule I forwarded and transformed yesterday which showed it stopping at 15*, ex-14* before the massive one-hour-later shift. This means that once again, 13670 is too close for comfort to the bigsig from CRI English via CANADA on 13675 at 14-15, just like ex-13680 was, Commies vs Commies! Way to go, Comrade Arnie (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** INDIA [and non]. 9425, Nov 15 at 1319, AIR IS we never tire of hearing, but maybe AIR operators do, since many transmissions omit it; 1320 to Vande Mataram; 1321 announcement mentioning kHz and meterbands, 1322 music. This is the National Channel, 500 kW, 18 degrees from Bangaluru per Aoki; also on // 9470 where the strength is about equal, but much weaker modulation, and presumably still not in synch with 9425 tho not checked this time. 9470 is 250 kW, 188 degrees from Aligarh. No English at 1330, but there should be at 1430.

At 1325 we started monitoring 9690 for the AIR GOS in English; no hummy carrier until *1328, at 1328:40 adding music but not the IS; 1329 announcement not in English as evidently still airing tail of Tibetan(?) service supposed to be on other frequencies only. 1330 one tone, ``Namaskar, welcome to the GOS of AIR`` YL says unabbreviatedly, quick frequency list including 13710, into news by OM, but too poor to stay with. At 1336 I checked 13710 and found something in French was atop AIR, and since the French was // 15205 at 1344 it`s obviously CRI, as scheduled this hour, both from Kashgar, EAST TURKISTAN to Europe.

15175, Nov 15 at 1507, open carrier with whine and flutter, no AIR IS, but weak modulation starts at 1515.5 when signal is also fading down. No doubt the Gujarati service via GOA as scheduled, source of the carrier heard yesterday after 1530 vs Vatican to India QRDRM from 15180; today I did not keep listening for that (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 

** INDONESIA [and non]. 9525-, Nov 15 at 1323, weak VOI carrier detectable, but far too much splash from CNR1 jamming on 9530 and VOA Chinese via Tinang, PHILIPPINES. So we`re out of luck once again for a Tuesday `Exotic Indonesia` co-produxion with RRI Banjarmasin, if they are still doing those. Meanwhile, also squeezed from other side 9520 by another Filipino, R. Veritas Asia in Sinhala from 1330; also 9520 PBS Hohhot, Nei Menggu thruout. It`s a pity that IBB chose to use 9530 this B-season, but no doubt they had no consideration for dentro-American would-be listeners to VOI (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** IRAN [and non]. 17670, Nov 15 at 1346, Qur`an on very good but fluttery signal, and buzz on the carrier; 1347 YL announcement, and more OM Qur`aning. I figured it was Sa`udi Arabia, but no, HFCC shows IRIB Arabic service at 1030-1630, 500 kW, 274 degrees from Kamalabad. No trace of what we previously heard on 17670 in this hour, AWR Vietnamese, 250 kW, 60 degrees from Madagascar. Has it moved as a result? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** JAPAN. 9595, Tuesday Nov 15 at 1324, R. Nikkei, JOZ in German, i.e. lessons mixed with Japanese. They also teach other western languages (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** RUSSIA [and non]. 6135, Nov 15 at 0043 check, V. de Rusia is still unreadable for special St. Pete site QSL, about equally weak signal to slightly wavering het from R. Santa Cruz, BOLIVIA, 6134.8v. Maybe one of these nights. Wolfgang Büschel points out that altho VOR 6135 is listed as an 800 kW transmitter, HFCC registration shows `only` 400 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** TAIWAN. 11550v, Nov 15 at 1519, WEWN Spanish again has a het, no doubt RTI during this hour in Cantonese and Hakka, per Aoki Oct 31, which still included A-11 info for that, but not likely changed. Taiwan has an awful time making its transmitters meet frequencies! Aoki shows at 1530 language switch the power changes from 250 to 300 kW but the antenna stays 205 degrees from Tainan. This implies two different transmitters are employed, so it will be interesting to monitor at 1530 whether there is any change in the pitch of the het (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** TAIWAN [non]. 6875, Nov 15 at 0640: no RTI in German instead of Spanish via WYFR tonight, since the signal is totally missing again as it occasionally is (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENINGN DIGEST)

** U S A. 7490, Nov 15 at 0043, insane preacher ranting on WBCQ, where his speech is free. Schedule shows `Faith Holiness Church`. Same one is also on several other SW stations. Has to be heard to be believed (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 15000, Nov 15 at 0648, VG signal from WWV (not WWVH), and good even on 20000 at 0704. Altho solar flux is way up, this is less than one megameter away and surely due to some nightmiddle HF sporadic E. So I also looked for KOA-NBFM on 25950, but MUF wasn`t that high (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 7811-USB, Nov 15 at 0652, AFN Florida with a string of PSAs starting with opposing depression/suicide. This talk segment lasted until 0656, then back to knock-off music reminiscent of Super Mario, and continued right past hourtop, no news in this drastic format change. I suspect these are at the whim of the transmitter operator and/or someboat axually depending on SW, and could just as abruptly switch back to information from AFN`s multiple streams available on satellite from Los Ángeles; we and NPR can only hope (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 5755, Nov 15 at 1350, WTWW with SFAW, not only the rumble on the modulation, which could be reduced or eliminated with a high-pass filter, but with BFO on, the carrier is wobbling rapidly. One of the drawbacks of refurbishing used transmitters, it seems (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. Jamming VOA in Spanish: see CUBA [and non]

UNIDENTIFIED [and non]. Some interesting hets this evening UT Nov 15, first on the caradio:

Standing out was 1 kHz het on Cuba 670, at 0120 UT. Could not tell whether plus or minus on the 10-kHz step tuning, but it matched the pitch of the Saudi 1521 het on KOKC 1520. Ergo, it`s not an accidental drift, and it isn`t a TA either, of course, since TA frequencies are as far as you could get from 670, i.e. 666 and 675. [Greece pretends they are on 665, warding off evil spirits.]

Back home on the porch with DX-398, at 0255, I find that it`s 671, DFs from the same direxion as the Cuban, and null is toward WSCR. But the (primary, R. Rebelde // 710) Cuban is not the source as it`s within SAH range of WSCR. So maybe the other Cuban, R. Reloj? No audio available. Or could it be one of those mystery USG tests on an offset frequency? No, it`s not a 1 kHz AM tone from 670, since there is no peak on 669. Please check 671 if it`s still on when you get this. Has anyone else been hearing this 671 recently? Recheck at 0637, the 671 carrier is still there peaking from the southeast/northwest?

[later: Rich Shaftan in NW NJ agreed he was hearing something on 671 at 0407; many reporters in the ABDX group also reported 671 that evening, but no one offered a bearing or any audio: Kevin Redding, TN; Bob Smoak, SC; Kevin Raper, SC; Dean Wayman, NE; Rick Barton, AZ; Bert New, GA; Phil Rafuse, PEI; Bruce Winkelman, OK]

Still in the car at 0240, I was hearing some more hets on the even frequencies, 530, 910, 1000. The latter two would be TAs on 909, 999 but could the first be 531, or is LYQ-529 back with us?

On the DX-398 did a full bandscan in the 0250-0300+ period, confirming carriers on 671, TAs 693, 774, 783, 882, 909, 927, 1053, 1152, 1215 and 1377. Could not hear LYQ on 529.

O, I also was hearing that different less than 1 kHz het above 1210, no doubt still WDGR, Dahlonega GA, the 10 kW daytimer which was recently reactivated, not only cheating all night, but not on-frequency. It was definitely identified by Neil Kazaross, and Mauno Ritola says programming is in Korean! It was already in Korean in Feb 2006; see DXLD 6-034.

NRC AM Log 2011-2012 shows WDGR also has a critical hours license for 2.5 kW, which would allow it to stay on somewhat after sunset, but not all night, with a CP for 20 kW day, 1 watt night, and 12 kW CH on a U11 configuration, which means different direxionals day and CH, non-direxional at night. To add to the complexity, city of license is Lawrenceville, and address is in Norcross. 73, (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, dxldyg and MW lists, and as expanded via DX LISTENING DIGEST)