mercoledì 15 febbraio 2012

Glenn Hauser logs February 13-14, 2012

** CANADA [and non]. 6604-USB, Feb 14 at 0636, VOLMET sounds like same voice as 6754-USB Trenton Military, and first wondered if they were //, but at this time 6604 is NY Radio, shared with Gander at other hourparts. 6604 including Pittsburgh, St Louis, Indianapolis, with temps and dewpoints in C, usual confusing mix of English and metric units for other data. 6754 included Shearwater (NS) base. EiBi now covers all this utility-broadcast scheduling as well as proper SWBC programming (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** FRANCE. 15300, Feb 14 at 1534 I find an open carrier, 1535 it starts cutting on and off, and during the split seconds it is on, there are also bits of talk modulation. 1536 steady OC again until 1537*, *1528 OC-1539*, *1539- back to on and off with modulation and now I can tell the fragments are in French -1540*, *1542 more of same, now staying on a bit longer each time, then nothing further heard as I paid more attention to my blintz breakfast. Times approximate as I did not try to pin the ons and offs down to the second. Of course, when first heard I assumed it would be RFI Issoudun on its well-known frequency, once running continuously very long hours, but in WRTH Feb Update as curtailed to only 06-09, 12-13, and 17-19, giving them plenty of time in between to mess with the transmitter (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** GABON. 9580, Feb 14 at 0624, no signal from ANO aside MOROCCO 9575, but at 0630 recheck it is on with French, music, stronger than 9575; 0632 ``Vous écoutez Africa Numéro Un, vôtre radio``, so its reactivation has surpassed the finale of the silly ballgame tournament. Is *0630 its nominal schedule now? WRTH 2012 shows 0500-2300 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** NIGERIA. 7275, Feb 14 at 0629, for the third night, no trace of any signal from FRCN as soon as Tunisia goes off. A few minutes earlier, I thought there was something underneath it. Could Kaduna be signing off before Sfax does? Is anyone currently hearing Nigeria on 7275 at any time? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** OKLAHOMA. 1230, Feb 13 at 2130 UT tuning around caradio, came upon huge variable whine on 1220 and 1240, obviously coming from out-of-whack semi-local WBBZ Ponca City which normally has a clean signal. Could also hear some of it when tuned to 1230 itself. It might have emanated from some horrible traffic light, but remained the same as I traveled on. I stopped on a quiet street and turned off the engine, and it was still there, altho suddenly stopped about a minute later, at 2134 and did not come back, even when I retraced my previous route. I had also quickly tuned thru the entire MW band in case it appear elsewhere, but it did not (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** OKLAHOMA. 1170, KFAQ Tulsa remains IBOC-free, as Bruce Winkelman first reported a week ago; Feb 13 at 2125 UT, 1160 and 1180 are open for DX tho none is incoming yet. And IBOC has also been off at various nighttime chex (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** TURKEY [and non]. 9665, Feb 14 at 1459, VOT IS, 1500 opening Arabic; very poor signal, but surprised to be getting anything. Probably longpath, as not much from shorter Europe making it at this hour on this band. It`s 250 kW, 150 degrees from Emirler, which is close to the azimuth for US too. And on the lo side of 9560 was also getting het no doubt from perpetually off-frequency ETHIOPIA, also longpath, against much stronger Chinese, presumably RCI via JAPAN rather than CRI via EAST TURKISTAN (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U K [non]. The Argies are getting restive again about the Malvinas, and BBC`s `From Our Own Correspondent` dealt with this topic, in two reports, from The Falklands, and from the Argentine POV, Feb 14 at 1450-1500 on 9740 via Singapore. Here`s the link to hear, and more:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00nkzz5
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 1070, Feb 13 at 2135 UT, KLIO Wichita KS is in dead air for a few minutes, but with SAH/hum. No one at the studio is paying attention since they picked up the True Oldies satellite feed. It`s always audibly off-frequency causing a significant SAH with KNX or whatever else may be incoming. Meanwhile, the former KFTI Radio Ranch country format has been put on FM 92.3 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 9990, Feb 13 at *2200 as promised, WTWW-2 is back with a test for Brother Scare, joined in progress in music like on WWRB 9385 but not synchronized. 9980 WWCR runs a bit overtime so both are on for a few minutes until its 2202.5* plus some open carrier. No detectable QRM between those two, but WTWW BSplash can be heard on 10000 WWV with the FRG-7; same on the DX-398 at 2233 check. Also on 5085 in the 00-03 Feb 14 period, no spurs noted (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 7811.5-USB, Feb 14 at 0644-0646 UT I am pleased to hear Jim Hightower`s wickedly pointed political commentary on AFN amid other capsules and PSAs. I assume this is a regular time for him weekdays? No, the schedule at
http://myafn.dodmedia.osd.mil/AFNRadio.aspx
shows `Your Dollars` & `Healthbeat` during this biminute at 2244 US Pacific Time. The huge minute-by-minute schedule is not searchable, but I don`t spot Hightower at other hours +44, or anywhen else. So was this a fluke, substitute, trial run or permanent change? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 15610, Feb 14 at 1534, Mother Angelica herself on WEWN, oblivious of the noise like rubbing a balloon that this transmitter is outputting to degrade her voice. With BFO, carrier is also wobbling. But the spurs peaking plus/minus 9 kHz are no worse than usual, i.e. also unacceptable. She should be ashamed, or at least confess about this (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A [non]. 11955, Feb 14 at 1522 fair signal with some neat electronic music, then accompanying sermon in a Turkic language; 1527 off-topic `Concierto de Aranjuez` closing music with announcements to 1529*. HFCC shows it`s AWR in Turkish via AUSTRIA at 1500-1530, 300 kW, 120 degrees from Moosbrunn, off the back here or longpath? Not much from Europe audible here direct on 25m at this hour (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)