giovedì 4 luglio 2013

Glenn Hauser logs July 4-5, 2013

** AUSTRALIA. Re my July 4 log of RA on 9580 with a forum from Indonesia at 1220-1240, Robin Harwood, Tasmania replies:

``The Resurrection PM, Kevin Rudd happened to be in Indonesia and  wondering if this was the forum he was going to address.``

Jerry Lenamon, Waco, explains: ``This was a feed from a TV program called "Q & A", often heard at 1135z, but not every day (I think it's usually on Mondays). The feed usually ends just before the news at 1200.

The RA online schedule doesn't show it, but I hear it regularly during the ABC News Radio "Live Talk" news broadcast with Tracee Hutchison that RA feeds from 0900 to 1200. In addition to airing on RA it also airs in about 80 markets in Australia (with 3 more pending).

The paragraph below is a show description copied from the ABC website.
`ABC NewsRadio Evenings, in conjunction with Radio Australia. Continuous news, finance, sport & features, with headlines every 15 minutes - with: Tracee Hutchison` JL`` (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** BOLIVIA. 5952+, July 5 at 0058, no signal from Radio Pío Doce, Siglo Veinte, after finding other Bols, 6135- R. Santa Cruz in at usual good level, and 6155-, R. Fides music audible with CCI from India`s LAH. Come to think of it, XII may have been absent for a few days now. It had been the #2 CP signal (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** BRAZIL. 4915, July 5 at 0051, pop music in Portuguese, fair signal once again strongest of all ZYs on the 60mb, 4885 being second, but with CODAR QRM. 0102 ID ``1,230, a Rádio Daqui``. (I thought they said 1,260, but listed on 1230) (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CANADA. 6-meter Es maps show activity to the northeast of here the morning of July 5, so I aim that way and monitor channel A2. At 1600 UT, in fades a signal with large grafix, NEWS NOON FROM GLOBAL TORONTO, and out in less than a minute. May we assume this would not also be carried in Manitoba at 11 am local? In that case it has to be CIII-TV-2, 100 kW in Bancroft, Ont., per Bill Hepburn`s ch 2 map and W9WI.com  I wonder what has become of the two CTV 100 kW in Ontario, Wiarton and SS Marie --- are they still on and in analog? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHINA. 15170, July 5 at 0530 I am hearing fluttery Chinese instead of Arabic from Saudi Arabia as earlier. Aoki shows BSKSA at 03-06 collides with CRI in Chinese at 04-06, first hour via Kashi-Saibagh 2022 site in Mandarin, this hour in Cantonese via Jinhua Youbu 831 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHINA. Firedrake, July 5 before 1300:
13795 fair at 1225

Otherwise only CNR1 to be heard on ex-FD frequencies:
15900, fair at 1220 and still at 1258
13970, very poor with het at 1258
13830, poor at 1258; none audible in the 12s, 14s, 16s, 17s
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CONGO DR [non]. 11690, July 5 at 0456, zero signal here despite HFCC registration showing R. Okapi planned to reactivate July 1 via BaBcoCk via South Africa: ``11690 0400 0500 52E MEY 250 340 0 416 1234567 010713 271013 D 11875 French AFS BAB BAB 19051``

Website
http://radiookapi.net/ mentions only FM frequencies in ten cities. Nothing significant from internal site search on 11690 and 11.690; and ``ondes courtes`` was last mentioned (in passing) in a story from Feb 24, 2012 about its tenth anniversary. Altho 10 probably low-powered FM transmitters are hardly enough to cover that large country, it appears that R. Okapi has given up on SW which would have filled in all the gaps, instead promoting FM and online listening.

Okapi`s sole SW hour was still listed in WRTH 2013 in the Target section; in the national section page 169, R. Okapi is shown with 22 FM transmitters powered 1 to 5 kW. But to be certain, we need to check 11690 earlier in the 0400 hour; or not: June 19 at 0452 it was absent, I reported. When did it quit? The last logs we can find of 11690 were 10 March 2013. HFCC also anticipated it resuming 1 May, but this never happened. Perhaps BaBcoCk keeps re-registering it, hoping against hope.

``Inactive at time of publication`` of the WRTH A-13 update 22 May.
BTW, a 2-page update to that has just been issued July 5, nothing new about Okapi:
http://www.wrth.com/files/WRTH2013IntRadioSuppl3_A13SchedulesUpdate.pdf
There is also a July 5 National Radio update:http://www.wrth.com/updates_national.html
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** GERMANY [non]. 15275, July 5 at 0533, DW English only via RWANDA, and reliably good here far beyond W African target, with more excellent documentary reportage, first about bauxite mining in Guinea, a major source for vital aluminum, yet without benefiting the people there; next about fracking for natural gas in Poland; 0543 conserving the golden lion tamarind monkeys in Brasil (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** GREECE. 15630, July 5 at 0452, ERA fair signal but undermodulated as usually the case now; this rump ERA continues to broadcast in defiance of the government abolishing it last month (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** GUATEMALA [and non]. 4055, July 5 at 0103.5, ``exactamente las 7 de la noche, 2 minutos, en Radio Verdad``, then `Lectura Biblica y Comentario`. Poor signal will improve after sunset, but still on the air.

I would discourage announcers everywhere from asserting the term ``exactly`` in timechecks unless they are plugged into WWV. While it may sound impressive, it only makes them sound foolish. RHC`s ``exact`` timechex ``in the whole national territory`` are often a minute off, unlike Radio Reloj. One can easily be almost a minute wrong, by only consulting a digiclock which flips once per minute, with no display of seconds even if set accurately (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** INDIA. 13695, July 5 at 1228, enjoyable lively S Asian songs, maybe film music, occasional brief announcements; fair with flutter but best signal from India now. It`s the AIR Telugu service via Bengaluru at 1215-1245. 1238 two ``All India Radio`` IDs pronounced as in English among the Telugu talk; 1243 mentions kHz a couple times, ``namaskar`` in sign-off but more music until 1245 open carrier until turned off at 1246:45* (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** INDONESIA. 9525.9, July 5 at 1252, very poor signal from VOI, but bits of talk modulation, presumably Japanese this hour, upon giveaway off-frequency (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** PERU. 5980, July 5 at 0050, R. Chaski carrier audible at usual very poor but steady level. Unfortunately I stayed on 4055 Guatemala a few seconds too long and missed the Chaski cutoff, already gone when I retuned at 0105. But I am confident that it would have been at 0104:24.75 or so, 5.25 seconds later than yesterday, which may also be interpolated after the next check July 6 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A [and non]. WORLD OF RADIO 1676 monitoring: confirmed on WTWW-1, 9479, Thursday July 4 at 2100.5. (Missed checking 0330v UT Friday on WWRB 5050; can anyone confirm this week?) Next:

Sat 0130v on Area 51 via WBCQ 5110v-CUSB; Sat 0630 & 1430 on HLR 7265-CUSB; Sat 1500 & 1730 on WRMI 9955; Sat & Sun 2329v on WTWW-2 9930; UT Sun 0400.5 on WTWW-1 5830; Sun 0630, 1030, 1430, 1830, testing on HLR 15785-CUSB; Tue 1100 on WRMI 9955; Wed 0630 & 1430 on HLR 7265-CUSB; maybe also Wed 1630 on 15785-CUSB as previous week (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 12105, July 5 at 1300 tune-in to hear how WTWW starts up, since it`s regularly heard later in this hour in Russian. Nothing there at first but Chinese from KSDA and CODAR. WTWW cuts on at *1302:08 with Russian Bible in progress, no ID or sign-on (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. Nothing propagating on 21 MHz broadcast or hambands, July 5 at 1342, until I encounter very weak USB contacts on 21290. Sounds like a contest with lots of stations calling another, some from Europe and some from USA. Eventually becomes clear that the focus of this activity is K2K in New Hampshire. At 1403 his signal really comes up as he rotates antenna toward us instead of Europe. This is part of the ``13 Colonies`` special event, as hams come up with artificial calls and activity to maintain interest, explained here in OPDX (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.:

13 COLONIES (Special Event). Just a reminder that the annual "13 Colonies Special Event" will take place between 1300z, July 1st and 0400z July 6th. There will be at least two stations from each on the 13 colonies on the air, as well as Super contest stations, multi-operator Club stations and OM and XYL teams.

The U.S. original 13 colonies are CT-DE-GA-MA-MD-NC-NH-NJ-NY-PA-RI-SC-VA. Special events stations mentioned are:
K2A (NY), K2B (VA), K2C (RI), K2D (CT), K2E (DE), K2F (MD), K2G (GA),
K2H (MA), K2I (NJ), K2J (NC), K2K (NH), K2L (SC), K2M (PA) and WM3PEN.

The theme for 2013 will be "Banners of the Revolution". The certificate is printed on heavy card stock. Stations working one state, or as many as all 13, will be eligible for the certificate. A "Clean Sweep" indicator will be affixed for those lucky enough to "Q" all 13. A special endorsement will be attached for stations contacting their sister operation, WM3PEN, in Philadelphia, PA.

All HF bands will be in play except the WARC bands and 60 meters. 2 meters and 6 meter simplex are encouraged. All modes of operation should be represented - SSB, CW, RTTY, Digital, and the Satellites. The mode of operation is up to the individual colony state station. For more details on the stations, suggested frequencies, QSL info and on how to obtain the special certificate, see:
http://www.13colonies.info
(Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin No. 1118, July 1, 2013, Editor Tedd Mirgliotta, KB8NW, Provided by BARF80.ORG (Cleveland, Ohio), via Dave Raycroft, ODXA yg via DXLD)

UNIDENTIFIED. 15150, July 5 at 0449, the 1 kHz continuous tone test is back 24 hours after last heard. It`s a good steady signal, lite fading, quite unlike 15170 Saudi and 15110 Tatarstan non, both poor with flutter, so I doubt it`s Iran. This time I stay awake until 0530 to hear what happen when Iran is supposed to start this frequency in Arabic. Tone and carrier cut off just in time at 0529, but nothing further audible. If these keep up, would those with direxional antennas or other means of locating source please try to do so! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)