domenica 12 agosto 2012

Glenn Hauser logs August 12, 2012

** BANGLADESH [non?]. 15520, Aug 12 at 1348, no signal at all, so is Bangladesh Betar somewhere else today? Yes! Just in from Swopan Chakroborty that today`s test frequency is 15105 at 12-20, reports eagerly awaited at rrc @ dhaka.net about reception and to betar.external @ yahoo.com about programming.

15105, Aug 12 1424, very poor signal with talk, probably Urdu as per previous scheduling. It`s one of the many wooden DKA frequencies registered in HFCC --- but at 11-13 only. If they really stay on it until 2000 it will collide with:

1400-1430 BBC Hausa via Ascension - oh2, I may have heard that, not BB
1557-1627 TWR Kirundi via Swaziland
1800-1830 BBC French via Ascension
1930-2000 BBC Hausa via Ascension and/or Woofferton
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHINA [and non]. 17820, Aug 12 at 0552, Chinese on new frequency, presumably CNR1 jammer. It`s new because HFCC shows IBB Tibetan via THAILAND, unheard, just started 17820 from Aug 1 at 05-06, and on Sundays only.

17855 & 17615 both with CNR1 jammers mixing with RFA Chinese via NMI, Aug 12 at 0552 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHINA. Firedrake August 12, before 1400: none in the 10s, 11s, 12s
13920, good at 1343
14700, very good at 1344
15485, poor at 1348, het on hi side
15605, fair at 1346, het on lo side, plus noise jam; WEWN 15606 spur not a problem now as 15615 is not strong
15745, fair at 1346, must be today`s SOH Tajikistan jumparound landing (If still on in next hour, would collide with NHK in Hindi 15745 via Madagascar at 1430-1515)
15900, very good at 1345
16100, fair at 1350
16980, good at 1350
17170, very poor at 1353
18200, very poor at 1353 - first time heard on 18+ MHz in months!
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** COLOMBIA. 14950.8 approx., Aug 12 at 1425, JBA carrier implying that Salem Stereo has finally reactivated on its characteristic off-frequency. I had been checking this often, more in the evenings with no results so far. Tnx tip from Bryan Clark in NZ, who has also been doing so and hearing various signals around 14950-14951, and finally Aug 12 at 0614 he had choral music on 14950.75 AM (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 15190, August 12 at 0547, R. Africa with YL gospel huxter, not a crazy-sounding one this time, but softly and seemingly reasonably. VG signal at S9+20 audiblizing lite humwhine upon her (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** NIGERIA. 15120, August 12 at 0549, VON English is weaker than 15190 R. Africa, and about equal to the CCCCCCI; VON strengthens after 0600 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** OKLAHOMA. 93.1, August 12 at 0556 as I am tuning around for meteor scatter, notice horrible emanance from Enid translator of KIMY 93.9 Watonga, ID as ``The Gospel Station``, but apparently also relaying heavy QRM, and bleeding onto adjacent frequencies. We can only hope it go off the air again (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SUDAN SOUTH [non]. 15725, August 12 at 0538, V. of South Sudan Revolutionary Radio is in English speech, still hard to copy but 0540 mentioned psychoanalysis, and then US foreign policy. Also weaker QRM at 0538 from Qur`an, and 0540 talk, presumed Urdu from R. Pakistan, which has always been co-channel here after 0500, but not usually heard at all (which one would expect if VOSSR were from a site as close to there as Tajikistan) (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** ZIMBABWE [non]. 15115, ready to catch the sign-on of SW Radio Africa via MADAGASCAR, on the second of only two weekly transmissions, Sunday August 12 at 0558: no signal yet. I bet it`s the same transmitter used for R. Dabanga on 15400. At same time that carrier is still on until 0600:00*.

Back to 15115: carrier here does not cut on until *0600:25, at first weaker than Nigeria 15120, then powers up, cuts off the air and back on, 0601:25 with mbira and percussion, song whose only lyric by YL chorus is ``Africa`` periodically. Finally sign-on announcement, in English! ``S-W Radio Africa [they do not say ``Shortwave Radio Africa``!], on 4880 at 7-9 every evening, and 24 hours online at
http://www.swradioafrica.com ``

NO mention of this new morning broadcast and soon becomes obvious it`s a playback of a previous evening. Unlike non-English 24 hours earlier, on this UT Sunday it stays in English. First program is by Alex (f.) Bell, `Diaspora Diary`, initially interrupted by some big buzzes which might be mistaken for jamming, but I think were just patchcord wiggles, i.e. bad connexions somewhere along the feed route. Her guest ``this evening`` is the editor-in-chief of Mail & Guardian, a major S African newspaper. They seem to be discussing litigation about the validity of an elexion. Dumps off the air 0605*-*0606. 0628 still in English, now about the Olympix (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. The weak off-frequency carriers/hets are still appearing here in the 13 UT hour on the 11.7-11.8 MHz range (and none such anywhere else): Aug 12 at 1308, 11736.0 (not 11734 as previously) hetting VOK; 11744.0 (on BFO, nothing to het, so not noticed before); 11751.5 hetting RHC; 11776.0 hetting Anguilla; 11784.0 hetting China radio war (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 11995, August 12 at 0535, poor signal with open carrier and some whine. Could be TDF, Issoudun, FRANCE, prior to the 0600 RFI Hausa broadcast (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. Perseid Meteor Scatter DX: I`m not currently set up with an external FM antenna, but even on the whips, some unID bursts were heard around 0500 UT August 12: 90.1 MHz as I was listening to KCSC-FM in OK, a quick blast of other audio overriding it. Later set up on a relatively clear frequency (at least while Tulsa was in a fade), 96.5 also produced some MS bursts as late as 0630 when I quit. You have to be very lucky to catch anything identifiable on MS. Skies here were mostly cloudy, no impediment to the RF (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)