** CHINA [and non]. 17495, Dec 29 at 0040, music and non-standard Chinese, lite fading and lite echo. Aoki shows it`s CRI in Cantonese, 0000-0057, 500 kW, 193 degrees from Beijing site, to be followed by Amoy from 0100.
17645, Dec 29 at 0041, different Chinese than 17495, and with more fading. Only listed is VOA Std Chinese via Tinang, PHILIPPINES during this hour only; and then found // 15385 from same. 17645 has additional QRM, weak music under, maybe Firedrake. The main 17645 and 15385 signals heard here are more likely to be CNR1 jamming than VOA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake Dec 29 before 0100, searched for after hearing CRI on 17495:
16920, poor at 0043
16600, very good at 0043
15970, very good at 0044
14400, poor at 0048 with flutter
13850, good at 0050
12870, fair at 0050
12370, poor at 0050
12320, fair at 0051; none in the 11s, 10s, 17s or 18s
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CROATIA [non]. 7375, Dec 29 at 0300 I make a point of listening to `Croatia Today`, which will be removed from SW as of January 1. Reception via Nauen, GERMANY is not very good, poor signal with fading. The news items are punxuated by stingers between them, ending at 0309.5 and into weather; 0310.5 repeat top stories; 0311 here it is: the announcement that Voice of Croatiai will no longer be on SW, with best regards, so keep listening on MW, satellite, internet. Then recitation of full schedule including satellite particulars; 0313 into music. So now we have only two or three more nights to hear Croatia on SW, with English also at 2315 when aimed only to S America.
Instead of 8 hours a day to the Americas, why not give us, say, one hour a day via a transmitter we can hear reliably, like WHRI, including the 5-15 minutes in English – or just the English which a lot more Americans understand than Croatian, saving a bunch in transmission costs. But no, it`s all-or-nothing, following the model of too many other defunct SW broadcasters.
Aoki would have us believe that at 0300 there are three x 100 kW transmitters running, at 240, 255 and 325 degrees, but HFCC shows only two, at 255 and 315 degrees. And since HRT moved from Wertachtal in A-12 to Nauen in B-12, it seems reception has generally degraded; both with 100 kW, but being further south and west, Wertachtal has a propagational advantage to N America, and probably better antennas (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. 11750, Dec 29 at 0052, RHC music is here // 11760 like in the mornings, the only time 11750 is supposed to be on air per own schedule, 13-16 UT:
``América Central 11750/9810 25/31 13-16/22-06 UTC``
Maybe here by mistake instead of 9810, which I did not think to check?
I did check elsewhere on 25m at 0052; found RHC on 11680 but not 11840 to S America, so 11750 could just as well be a mistake for 11840.
9511-9512, Dec 29 at 1312, the distorted spurblob from RHC is peaking around here, out of the 9540 transmitter (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** IRAN [non]. 9990, Dec 29 at 1345, R. Farda ID in passing, poor signal. This is 250 kW, 315 degrees from Iranawila, SRI LANKA, at 1300-1430, assuming the curtain antenna wind damage two months ago has not changed that; following 9990 via Kuwait at 0930-1300, per HFCC (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KOREA NORTH [and non]. 4557, Dec 29 at 1250, Juche jamming noise against V. of the People, which was hardly audible, but also on 4558 something sending K over and over in CW, a rather pointless message unless it`s a marker/beacon. Also CODAR QRM (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KOREA NORTH [non]. 5985, Sat Dec 29 at 1401, Shiokaze, fair in Korean, from JSR Tokyo, lite het from Myanmar on hi side. Ron Howard says this week the Friday 1330-1430 broadcast was not in English, but in Korean, and jamming continues on ex-6135 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO [and non]. 540, Dec 29 at 0614 UT, ho hum, another night, and as soon as I tune in, hear ID for ``La Ranchera de Paquimé``, i.e. 5 kW XETX in Nuevo Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, also 90.5 FM. No doubt IDs are frequent making this not so strange. And again, when I null it, no XEWA SLP to be heard, but instead ``CBK`` Watrous in English as quickly confirmed by // ``CBW`` 990 Winnipeg (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. Ch A2 NTSC, Dec 29 at 0106 UT tune-in, Es opening is in progress, heavy CCI from the south; one surges for a moment, with net-7 bug in UR, during boxing? This is one of those frustrating openings where no signal is clear in the mess. 6m ham maps show most of their contacts are across south-central USA, centered over AR/LA, little from Mexico. Brief glimpse of algo video on ch A4 too.
At 0126, MUF is up to A3 with algo, and shortly also A5 with algo.
0130, ch 2 mentions Tamaulipas, boosting my expectation that net-7 is most likely XHTAU Tampico. Audio from this is dominant, and it`s too loud, overmodulated verging on distortion; another peak at 0154 during novela from net-7. Weak opening continues past 0230 UT (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MYANMAR. 7110, Dec 29 at 1304, no signal from Thazin Radio, nor for the last few days, when it had normally been audible weakly. Ron Howard, California reports they have been off since Dec 25, altho occasionally a carrier lately, testing? Victor Goonetilleke, Sri Lanka, found 7110 back in the local mornings around 0100 Dec 29 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** RUSSIA [and non]. 5930, Dec 29 at 1259, R. Rossii, Pet/Kam with choral music, Handel? Stops at 1300 for no announcement or timesignal, carrier off at 1300:50*. No CW marker from 8GAL or 2MTL either. // 5940 from Magadan also stopped, and the latter immediately taken over by R. Australia whose carrier overlapped earlier (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SOMALILAND. 7120, Dec 29 at 1304 JBA carrier, and as usual much better to fair level by 1350 with pop music not especially HOA; 1357 announcement, 1357.5-1359.5* usual NA which starts with 4-notes-up, 4-notes-down, 4-notes-up, 4-notes-down (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN [and non]. 9630, Dec 29 at 0056, REE DRM is not blasting in as usual via COSTA RICA, this being the only Spanish broadcast supposedly remaining to NAm at 00-02. In fact tho there is some noise around the frequency, am not sure the DRM is on the air at all. REE direct on 9620 & better 9535 AM provide good signals.
17595, Sat Dec 29 at 1428, REE is back with VG signal from Noblejas which is missing on weekdays, and apparently aimed at NAm rather than SAm. But it`s in French!! African music and talk about history of Zimbabwe. Maybe it`s a co-produxion with a station in France as heard previously, except REE supposedly blew off anything but own originated shows. I kept expecting some Castilian to be mixed in, but stays only in French, 1445 on to Chinese music; and at 1455 into Chinese lesson presented in French!
Oh, oh, this isn`t REE at all, but they must be relaying CRI by mistake, and it`s not // 21610. 1500 two pips, and ID as Radio Chine Internationale, into informations, but by 1503 it`s finally REE in Spanish, as someone woke up and switched to proper input. Now it`s // 21610, but strangely, 21610 is echoing slightly behind 17595 tho both are surely Noblejas; different feed routings? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [and non]. WORLD OF RADIO 1649 monitoring: confirmed on Area 51 via WBCQ 5110v-CUSB, UT Saturday Dec 29 ending by 0258, so must have started about a minute earlier than 0230. 5110 is weaker than usual tonight, but also on webcast.
Next: UT Sunday 0500 on WTWW-1, 5830.
Sunday 0900, 1630, Monday 0530, Tuesday 1200 on WRMI 9955.
This week/next year, Hamburger Lokalradio has a special broadcast Wednesday January 2 including WOR at 0630 and 1630 on 7265. However, Noel Green reports that 7265 is blocked by CRI at 1630 just like 6190 was. How about picking frequencies without China, if they can find any? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 850, Dec 29 at 1332 UT, mass in English with voice-over translations to Spanish, in KOA null. No doubt KJON Carrollton TX (Dallas market), and sounds just like what`s on WEWN 11550 during this hour. The Guadalupe station is affiliated with EWTN, but can`t find any affiliate list for Spanish at EWTN website, just SW stuff, while there is an AM & FM affiliate list in English (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 900, Dec 29 at 1340 UT, nostalgia music, ``Crazy``, ``Happy Face``, N/S, no doubt from KSGL Wichita, which at least on weekdays presents gospel huxters in the mornings, and more on Sundays. Program schedule is obviously incomplete, with nothing shown before 8 am CT Saturdays, http://www.ksgl.com/5.html
so perhaps defaults to more `Music You Remember` elsewhen. Daytime power boost to 250 watts from 28 at night should occur at 1330 UT in December, but 1345 in January; and it`s denied any PSRA because of XEW (which is no longer a dominant signal even at night) (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [and non]. 1000, Dec 29 at 0622 UT, preacher in English in KTOK OKC null; or rather, I have to null this to hear KTOK. No doubt it`s KKIM in Albuquerque NM again, 10 kW non-direxional day pattern rather than 38 watts at night! Making heavy slow SAH of 77/minute = 1.3 Hz. Or rather it seems to be a Christian-counseling show than straight preaching, ``be obedient to the Word`` (which is risky considering The Word was written by mere humans with wild imaginations a bimillenium ago, then further flawed by faulty translations). Also when positioned to hear KKIM, some weaker Mexican music, likely XEFV Juárez, which when KKIM is behaving itself, occupies the KTOK null by itself (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 1010, Dec 29 at 0628 UT, since I had heard CFAC 960 thru local KGWA earlier in the hour, checked here for ``CBR``, but dominated by Bible story in English, consecutively translated into Spanish, looping E/W, a sure sign of KXXT in Tolleson AZ (Phx market), as previously IDed, and no doubt also on day power of 15 kW rather than 250 watts night (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ZAMBIA. 13590, Dec 29 at 1506, no signal detectable from CVC 1Africa. They have announced that SW broadcasts will be terminated after Dec 31, but wonder if they are already off? Scheduled all the way from 06 to 22 UT, this 100 kW, 315 degrees from Lusaka for Nigeria, carries right on across North America unless a low MUF blox it. Another check Dec 29 at 1839: still nothing but CODAR. If we have to lose SW stations, let them be gospel huxters dedicated to depriving third-world citizens of their original religions. The transmitter could be employed for something more useful, like an unbiased news service, or classical music (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. Trans-Pacific 9-kHz carrier search Dec 29 at 1323+: 702, 738, 747, 774, 828, 1566. 738 was briefly strongest, and more westerly than NW, as weaker 702 may also have been. Standard suppositions are that 702 is Australia, 738 Tahiti; 747, 774 and 828 the big NHK stations in Japan; and 1566 Korea South FEBC. These are all routine on the west coast, but it`s a major morning if we ever pull any audio from them here in deep North America (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 2910, Dec 29 at 0559 UT, looking again for that presumed third harmonic of 970: JBA carrier. I leave the receiver tuned here to check again whenever I awaken --- which is 1226. Once again it`s the morning M&W chat show. Very poor signal, and all I can copy are ``la jota``, ``estado del tiempo``, ``colonia``. Today there is a lot more SSB QRM on the hi side, diminished a bit by listening in LSB mode. And 2910 is fading by 1234, too weak at 1240. Need to listen from before 1200, and theoretically should also be audible in evenings.
From yesterday I`m quite sure it`s a Mexican, prime suspect XEVT in Villahermosa, Tabasco. But are there any 970 stations which might be called ``La Jota``? Yes, XEJ in Juárez, but that`s on UT -7 while I was definitely hearing UT -6 timechex. There are two other Mexicans with a J in their 4-letter calls. Still not enough info. Of course there could be two harmonix on 2970, one being from XEJ, but the chances of that are remote.
Note, in yesterday`s report my first reference to a Colonia mentioned should have read ``Salinas``, not ``Sabinas``. Also I meant to mention that at one point Dec 28 I compared 2910 to 970, but the fundamental was just a mishmash of signals, also bothered by ACI from local 960 KGWA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 4417, Dec 29 at 0031, mystery carrier is here, but no modulation detectable. I am beginning to wonder if what I heard yesterday was cross-modulation, i.e. imposed on the carrier by overload in the receiver from some other strong signal, like WWCR 4840. If that happen again, must look for //. Still audible at 0559 Dec 29; and at 1245, S9+10 and lite fading, but no modulation.
EiBi lists one thing on 4417:
``4417 0000-2400 I Romaradio IAR I SEu r``, i.e. maritime station. Since no mode is mentioned, should we assume it`s voice on USB rather than AM? EiBi mixes in lots of utility stations with the broadcasters, but not necessarily exhaustively. Italy source would account for hearing it here around 00 and 06, but not 13 UT.
In the meantime I searched for other logs of 4417. There are several in NZ DX Times, including the latest issue, Dec 2012:
``4417 0430 NZ Bluff Fisherman's Co-op with wx; reas. signal 3/12 JW
Jonathan Wood, Mosgiel - FRG 7 and random longwire`` Mode not stated; could it be AM? No, per previous NZ logs:
``4417 0530 Bluff fisherman's radio USB weather for the area fair signal 10/6 ABD
4417 0745 FAR NORTH RADIO USB weather reports for next three days s/off 0748 with ID and frequency. Vessel called in and reported heading into the Kaipara by the morning Fair to good 12/6 ABD
Arthur De Maine Kakanui Drake R-8 and Icom R70 and a 25m EWE``
(June 2012 NZ DX Times)
An NZ source could account for the hours I hear it around 06 and 13, but not 00. I had previously logged it in 2012:
``UNIDENTIFIED. 4417, Nov 10 at 0021, fair and steady open carrier, wonder what? Probably North American ute, too strong for a South American broadcaster (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)``
And so had Chuck Bolland, Florida, a biyear ago:
``UNIDENTIFIED. 4417, have a weak signal at 0040. Don't know if this is a broadcast or a utility? Can hear a male in occasional comments.
Language unknown and comments are not steady (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston
FL, 26N 081W, WR-G31DDC, DX LISTENING DIGEST 11-02)``
Date lost, but would be early January 2011, or late December 2010. So someone else heard some modulation too. A long-standing mystery (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 4900, Dec 29 at 1255, repetitive cadences in oriental language on AM, suspect numbers, Chinese or Korean. One frequent syllable was ``hà``, i.e. with descending tone. Nothing at all on 4900 in HFCC or EiBi, but surely Aoki will have it: No, just non-existent Ecuador and Guinea. So maybe something new (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED [and non]. 9420-9430v, Dec 29 at 1309, the wandering banshee blob is moving slowly upward, but cuts off the air at 1310, uncovering FEBC English/Chinese sermon on 9430. First time I have heard it cut off at a certain point. Then not found elsewhere in the 9.3-9.5 MHz range. Also had not heard it for a few days (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
17645, Dec 29 at 0041, different Chinese than 17495, and with more fading. Only listed is VOA Std Chinese via Tinang, PHILIPPINES during this hour only; and then found // 15385 from same. 17645 has additional QRM, weak music under, maybe Firedrake. The main 17645 and 15385 signals heard here are more likely to be CNR1 jamming than VOA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake Dec 29 before 0100, searched for after hearing CRI on 17495:
16920, poor at 0043
16600, very good at 0043
15970, very good at 0044
14400, poor at 0048 with flutter
13850, good at 0050
12870, fair at 0050
12370, poor at 0050
12320, fair at 0051; none in the 11s, 10s, 17s or 18s
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CROATIA [non]. 7375, Dec 29 at 0300 I make a point of listening to `Croatia Today`, which will be removed from SW as of January 1. Reception via Nauen, GERMANY is not very good, poor signal with fading. The news items are punxuated by stingers between them, ending at 0309.5 and into weather; 0310.5 repeat top stories; 0311 here it is: the announcement that Voice of Croatiai will no longer be on SW, with best regards, so keep listening on MW, satellite, internet. Then recitation of full schedule including satellite particulars; 0313 into music. So now we have only two or three more nights to hear Croatia on SW, with English also at 2315 when aimed only to S America.
Instead of 8 hours a day to the Americas, why not give us, say, one hour a day via a transmitter we can hear reliably, like WHRI, including the 5-15 minutes in English – or just the English which a lot more Americans understand than Croatian, saving a bunch in transmission costs. But no, it`s all-or-nothing, following the model of too many other defunct SW broadcasters.
Aoki would have us believe that at 0300 there are three x 100 kW transmitters running, at 240, 255 and 325 degrees, but HFCC shows only two, at 255 and 315 degrees. And since HRT moved from Wertachtal in A-12 to Nauen in B-12, it seems reception has generally degraded; both with 100 kW, but being further south and west, Wertachtal has a propagational advantage to N America, and probably better antennas (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. 11750, Dec 29 at 0052, RHC music is here // 11760 like in the mornings, the only time 11750 is supposed to be on air per own schedule, 13-16 UT:
``América Central 11750/9810 25/31 13-16/22-06 UTC``
Maybe here by mistake instead of 9810, which I did not think to check?
I did check elsewhere on 25m at 0052; found RHC on 11680 but not 11840 to S America, so 11750 could just as well be a mistake for 11840.
9511-9512, Dec 29 at 1312, the distorted spurblob from RHC is peaking around here, out of the 9540 transmitter (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** IRAN [non]. 9990, Dec 29 at 1345, R. Farda ID in passing, poor signal. This is 250 kW, 315 degrees from Iranawila, SRI LANKA, at 1300-1430, assuming the curtain antenna wind damage two months ago has not changed that; following 9990 via Kuwait at 0930-1300, per HFCC (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KOREA NORTH [and non]. 4557, Dec 29 at 1250, Juche jamming noise against V. of the People, which was hardly audible, but also on 4558 something sending K over and over in CW, a rather pointless message unless it`s a marker/beacon. Also CODAR QRM (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KOREA NORTH [non]. 5985, Sat Dec 29 at 1401, Shiokaze, fair in Korean, from JSR Tokyo, lite het from Myanmar on hi side. Ron Howard says this week the Friday 1330-1430 broadcast was not in English, but in Korean, and jamming continues on ex-6135 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO [and non]. 540, Dec 29 at 0614 UT, ho hum, another night, and as soon as I tune in, hear ID for ``La Ranchera de Paquimé``, i.e. 5 kW XETX in Nuevo Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, also 90.5 FM. No doubt IDs are frequent making this not so strange. And again, when I null it, no XEWA SLP to be heard, but instead ``CBK`` Watrous in English as quickly confirmed by // ``CBW`` 990 Winnipeg (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. Ch A2 NTSC, Dec 29 at 0106 UT tune-in, Es opening is in progress, heavy CCI from the south; one surges for a moment, with net-7 bug in UR, during boxing? This is one of those frustrating openings where no signal is clear in the mess. 6m ham maps show most of their contacts are across south-central USA, centered over AR/LA, little from Mexico. Brief glimpse of algo video on ch A4 too.
At 0126, MUF is up to A3 with algo, and shortly also A5 with algo.
0130, ch 2 mentions Tamaulipas, boosting my expectation that net-7 is most likely XHTAU Tampico. Audio from this is dominant, and it`s too loud, overmodulated verging on distortion; another peak at 0154 during novela from net-7. Weak opening continues past 0230 UT (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MYANMAR. 7110, Dec 29 at 1304, no signal from Thazin Radio, nor for the last few days, when it had normally been audible weakly. Ron Howard, California reports they have been off since Dec 25, altho occasionally a carrier lately, testing? Victor Goonetilleke, Sri Lanka, found 7110 back in the local mornings around 0100 Dec 29 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** RUSSIA [and non]. 5930, Dec 29 at 1259, R. Rossii, Pet/Kam with choral music, Handel? Stops at 1300 for no announcement or timesignal, carrier off at 1300:50*. No CW marker from 8GAL or 2MTL either. // 5940 from Magadan also stopped, and the latter immediately taken over by R. Australia whose carrier overlapped earlier (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SOMALILAND. 7120, Dec 29 at 1304 JBA carrier, and as usual much better to fair level by 1350 with pop music not especially HOA; 1357 announcement, 1357.5-1359.5* usual NA which starts with 4-notes-up, 4-notes-down, 4-notes-up, 4-notes-down (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN [and non]. 9630, Dec 29 at 0056, REE DRM is not blasting in as usual via COSTA RICA, this being the only Spanish broadcast supposedly remaining to NAm at 00-02. In fact tho there is some noise around the frequency, am not sure the DRM is on the air at all. REE direct on 9620 & better 9535 AM provide good signals.
17595, Sat Dec 29 at 1428, REE is back with VG signal from Noblejas which is missing on weekdays, and apparently aimed at NAm rather than SAm. But it`s in French!! African music and talk about history of Zimbabwe. Maybe it`s a co-produxion with a station in France as heard previously, except REE supposedly blew off anything but own originated shows. I kept expecting some Castilian to be mixed in, but stays only in French, 1445 on to Chinese music; and at 1455 into Chinese lesson presented in French!
Oh, oh, this isn`t REE at all, but they must be relaying CRI by mistake, and it`s not // 21610. 1500 two pips, and ID as Radio Chine Internationale, into informations, but by 1503 it`s finally REE in Spanish, as someone woke up and switched to proper input. Now it`s // 21610, but strangely, 21610 is echoing slightly behind 17595 tho both are surely Noblejas; different feed routings? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [and non]. WORLD OF RADIO 1649 monitoring: confirmed on Area 51 via WBCQ 5110v-CUSB, UT Saturday Dec 29 ending by 0258, so must have started about a minute earlier than 0230. 5110 is weaker than usual tonight, but also on webcast.
Next: UT Sunday 0500 on WTWW-1, 5830.
Sunday 0900, 1630, Monday 0530, Tuesday 1200 on WRMI 9955.
This week/next year, Hamburger Lokalradio has a special broadcast Wednesday January 2 including WOR at 0630 and 1630 on 7265. However, Noel Green reports that 7265 is blocked by CRI at 1630 just like 6190 was. How about picking frequencies without China, if they can find any? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 850, Dec 29 at 1332 UT, mass in English with voice-over translations to Spanish, in KOA null. No doubt KJON Carrollton TX (Dallas market), and sounds just like what`s on WEWN 11550 during this hour. The Guadalupe station is affiliated with EWTN, but can`t find any affiliate list for Spanish at EWTN website, just SW stuff, while there is an AM & FM affiliate list in English (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 900, Dec 29 at 1340 UT, nostalgia music, ``Crazy``, ``Happy Face``, N/S, no doubt from KSGL Wichita, which at least on weekdays presents gospel huxters in the mornings, and more on Sundays. Program schedule is obviously incomplete, with nothing shown before 8 am CT Saturdays, http://www.ksgl.com/5.html
so perhaps defaults to more `Music You Remember` elsewhen. Daytime power boost to 250 watts from 28 at night should occur at 1330 UT in December, but 1345 in January; and it`s denied any PSRA because of XEW (which is no longer a dominant signal even at night) (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [and non]. 1000, Dec 29 at 0622 UT, preacher in English in KTOK OKC null; or rather, I have to null this to hear KTOK. No doubt it`s KKIM in Albuquerque NM again, 10 kW non-direxional day pattern rather than 38 watts at night! Making heavy slow SAH of 77/minute = 1.3 Hz. Or rather it seems to be a Christian-counseling show than straight preaching, ``be obedient to the Word`` (which is risky considering The Word was written by mere humans with wild imaginations a bimillenium ago, then further flawed by faulty translations). Also when positioned to hear KKIM, some weaker Mexican music, likely XEFV Juárez, which when KKIM is behaving itself, occupies the KTOK null by itself (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 1010, Dec 29 at 0628 UT, since I had heard CFAC 960 thru local KGWA earlier in the hour, checked here for ``CBR``, but dominated by Bible story in English, consecutively translated into Spanish, looping E/W, a sure sign of KXXT in Tolleson AZ (Phx market), as previously IDed, and no doubt also on day power of 15 kW rather than 250 watts night (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ZAMBIA. 13590, Dec 29 at 1506, no signal detectable from CVC 1Africa. They have announced that SW broadcasts will be terminated after Dec 31, but wonder if they are already off? Scheduled all the way from 06 to 22 UT, this 100 kW, 315 degrees from Lusaka for Nigeria, carries right on across North America unless a low MUF blox it. Another check Dec 29 at 1839: still nothing but CODAR. If we have to lose SW stations, let them be gospel huxters dedicated to depriving third-world citizens of their original religions. The transmitter could be employed for something more useful, like an unbiased news service, or classical music (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. Trans-Pacific 9-kHz carrier search Dec 29 at 1323+: 702, 738, 747, 774, 828, 1566. 738 was briefly strongest, and more westerly than NW, as weaker 702 may also have been. Standard suppositions are that 702 is Australia, 738 Tahiti; 747, 774 and 828 the big NHK stations in Japan; and 1566 Korea South FEBC. These are all routine on the west coast, but it`s a major morning if we ever pull any audio from them here in deep North America (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 2910, Dec 29 at 0559 UT, looking again for that presumed third harmonic of 970: JBA carrier. I leave the receiver tuned here to check again whenever I awaken --- which is 1226. Once again it`s the morning M&W chat show. Very poor signal, and all I can copy are ``la jota``, ``estado del tiempo``, ``colonia``. Today there is a lot more SSB QRM on the hi side, diminished a bit by listening in LSB mode. And 2910 is fading by 1234, too weak at 1240. Need to listen from before 1200, and theoretically should also be audible in evenings.
From yesterday I`m quite sure it`s a Mexican, prime suspect XEVT in Villahermosa, Tabasco. But are there any 970 stations which might be called ``La Jota``? Yes, XEJ in Juárez, but that`s on UT -7 while I was definitely hearing UT -6 timechex. There are two other Mexicans with a J in their 4-letter calls. Still not enough info. Of course there could be two harmonix on 2970, one being from XEJ, but the chances of that are remote.
Note, in yesterday`s report my first reference to a Colonia mentioned should have read ``Salinas``, not ``Sabinas``. Also I meant to mention that at one point Dec 28 I compared 2910 to 970, but the fundamental was just a mishmash of signals, also bothered by ACI from local 960 KGWA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 4417, Dec 29 at 0031, mystery carrier is here, but no modulation detectable. I am beginning to wonder if what I heard yesterday was cross-modulation, i.e. imposed on the carrier by overload in the receiver from some other strong signal, like WWCR 4840. If that happen again, must look for //. Still audible at 0559 Dec 29; and at 1245, S9+10 and lite fading, but no modulation.
EiBi lists one thing on 4417:
``4417 0000-2400 I Romaradio IAR I SEu r``, i.e. maritime station. Since no mode is mentioned, should we assume it`s voice on USB rather than AM? EiBi mixes in lots of utility stations with the broadcasters, but not necessarily exhaustively. Italy source would account for hearing it here around 00 and 06, but not 13 UT.
In the meantime I searched for other logs of 4417. There are several in NZ DX Times, including the latest issue, Dec 2012:
``4417 0430 NZ Bluff Fisherman's Co-op with wx; reas. signal 3/12 JW
Jonathan Wood, Mosgiel - FRG 7 and random longwire`` Mode not stated; could it be AM? No, per previous NZ logs:
``4417 0530 Bluff fisherman's radio USB weather for the area fair signal 10/6 ABD
4417 0745 FAR NORTH RADIO USB weather reports for next three days s/off 0748 with ID and frequency. Vessel called in and reported heading into the Kaipara by the morning Fair to good 12/6 ABD
Arthur De Maine Kakanui Drake R-8 and Icom R70 and a 25m EWE``
(June 2012 NZ DX Times)
An NZ source could account for the hours I hear it around 06 and 13, but not 00. I had previously logged it in 2012:
``UNIDENTIFIED. 4417, Nov 10 at 0021, fair and steady open carrier, wonder what? Probably North American ute, too strong for a South American broadcaster (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)``
And so had Chuck Bolland, Florida, a biyear ago:
``UNIDENTIFIED. 4417, have a weak signal at 0040. Don't know if this is a broadcast or a utility? Can hear a male in occasional comments.
Language unknown and comments are not steady (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston
FL, 26N 081W, WR-G31DDC, DX LISTENING DIGEST 11-02)``
Date lost, but would be early January 2011, or late December 2010. So someone else heard some modulation too. A long-standing mystery (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 4900, Dec 29 at 1255, repetitive cadences in oriental language on AM, suspect numbers, Chinese or Korean. One frequent syllable was ``hà``, i.e. with descending tone. Nothing at all on 4900 in HFCC or EiBi, but surely Aoki will have it: No, just non-existent Ecuador and Guinea. So maybe something new (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED [and non]. 9420-9430v, Dec 29 at 1309, the wandering banshee blob is moving slowly upward, but cuts off the air at 1310, uncovering FEBC English/Chinese sermon on 9430. First time I have heard it cut off at a certain point. Then not found elsewhere in the 9.3-9.5 MHz range. Also had not heard it for a few days (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
