lunedì 30 dicembre 2013

Glenn Hauser logs December 28-29, 2013

** COLOMBIA [and non]. 5910, Dec 29 at 0628, again hearing a LAH against off-frequency HJDH. This time I can determine from bits of PMS and RHC audio that it`s a mixture of 6090 Anguilla and 6000 Habana, i.e. a receiver-produced leapfrog mix due to overloading the FRG-7, removable by attenuation (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CUBA. 11880, Dec 28 at 2108, this RHC frequency is AWOL, should have been // 11760 in French.

5990, Dec 29 at 0101, CRI relay is still on, opening English, supposed to stop before 0100 with Spanish, so additional QRM to 5980 PERU.

6060, Dec 29 at 0112, RHC`s only Spanish frequency audible, none on 11 or 9 MHz, 6070 is off, 6000 & 6165 English, 5040 French with rumble (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** EAST TURKISTAN. 5060, Dec 29 at 0102, poor signal in Chinese, so it`s PBS Xinjiang, 100 kW, 230 degrees from Urumqi. Therefore I check their other language services: 4980 in Uighur is very poor at same parameters; 4850, 100 kW ND, Kazakh, JBA. It`s only fitting that Chinese enjoy the best signal. Another one I keep forgetting to compare is 4500 in Mongolian, 50 kW ND per Aoki. There are also 75mb channels supposed to be //.

7250, Dec 29 at 0107, fair signal in Chinese with hum, also Urumqi, but in this case it`s CRI, 500 kW, 212 degrees (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** EQUATORIAL GUINEA [and non]. 15190, Dec 28 at 2004, R. Africa Network via WRMI, some gospel huxter with New-Year program reviewing the weather disasters of 2013, concluding that ``Christ is at the door``. Yeah, right. Don`t hear any Batan CCI at first, but maybe a trace at 2024. By 2110 definite SAH and double audio (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** KUWAIT. 9370, Dec 29 at 0110, music and mentioning ``America, Washington DC``, i.e. Deewa Radio at 01-04 in Pashto, 250 kW, 70 degrees from Kuwait (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MOROCCO [and non]. 9575, Dec 28 at 2017, JBA carrier, I suppose Medi-1 as nothing else is scheduled, but would expect more from it and fear it is becoming sporadic again. Meanwhile F-G signals on 9555 and 9675 from SAUDI ARABIA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** PERU [and non]. 5980, Dec 29 at 0100, heavy fast pulse jamming from CUBA, but R. Chaski carrier still detectable with BFO, until cutoff at 0101:59*, which is 6.5 seconds later than yesterday (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SRI LANKA. 11905, Dec 29 at 0114, good signal level but besides transpolar flutter fading up and down, there is Doppler flutter laterally on the carrier; SLBC music starts at 0114:50, timesignal ends 0115:11, yes, eleven seconds late! Opening in Hindi (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** TAIWAN [non]. 11880, Sunday Dec 29 at 1327, PCJ 6-note interval signal in second of two specials via WRMI; program opens with timesignal which is 16.5 seconds late! due to internet feed? TG for WWV. This is the live `Happy Station` callout, with less music than usual, but when it plays, same degraded fidelity as last week. Usual light-hearted gab by Keith Perron between and during calls, including: Kenny Tosh in Belfast; Jonathan Short in China; Bob Zanotti in Switzerland; Steven Mason in NJ, Jan Oosterveen in Netherlands, Andy Sennitt, ibid., Jodi? In Kolkata, Tom Meijer. Some no-answers from people who had sent in phone number and were supposed to be QRX. Keith mentions that the 5995 Nauen relay has to close 3 minutes early at 1327, but Jan points out they availablized the transmitter for 5995 by moving some other service to Issoudun for this occasion.

Generally sufficient here on 11880 with some fades, no QRM --- until 1430 before WRMI carrier goes off, then hear some VP CCI. 11880 had been chosen because it was completely unoccupied, but now what? HFCC and Aoki still show nothing else, but Jorge Freitas on the SDR Twente was getting QRM earlier in the hour at 1410, seemed VOA in Asian language; a year ago VOA Kurdish was on 11880 that hour via Biblis, but now Ivo Ivanov says it`s ``VOA in Tibetan 1400-1500 on new 11880, ex 7255 KWT // 9670``, which means also ChiCom jamming ASAP. But PCJ has no immediate plans for further broadcasts on WRMI 11880 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1701 monitoring: confirmed on WTWW-2, 5085, starting at 0030:00 sharp, UT Sunday Dec 29, after gospel music. Repeat at 0501v UT Sunday on WTWW-1, 5830, at first inaudible, then detectable, as propagation has dropped out again this late in the winter night. I wonder if it`s better further away? At this hour, the other TN signals are similarly degraded on 5890, 5935, while on 60m, 5085 and 4840 remain well audible.

Next: NEW time on Area 51 via WBCQ 5110v-CUSB: UT Monday Dec 30 at 0400v. Hope propagation holds up (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 15460, Dec 28 at 2008, Brother Scare is here, very undermodulated, because WRMI has been concerned that the original 15440 frequency toward Europe at 20-22 UT is not propagating well. Jeff White notified Juan Franco Crespo in Spain on Dec 28 that they would be moving to 7730 (WOOB, quite a plunge, almost exactly by 50%, not yet entered on WRMI`s graphic frequency schedule; but hints may lead to something in Spanish), but when I first check at 2003, a JBA carrier is on 7730 at best, probably something else. 15440 is indeed off, but tuning up the band at 2008 I find 15460 with BS, and music degraded by low bitrate feed. No QRM heard on 15460, but Iran in English is scheduled there until 2020, 205 degrees from Kamalabad.

Guess what, WRMI is radiating on the second harmonic of 7730 instead of the fundamental! I notified Okeechobee of the error ASAP, but they were apparently busy with something else, and stayed on 15460 at further chex 2045, 2110 and 2152. Jeff White replied, ``Glenn: We will probably be off to Europe tomorrow [Sunday] from 2000 to 2200 to do some work, and it should be back on on Monday on 7730 kHz``. Ivo Ivanov could hardly believe 7730, really meant to be 11730? No, 7730 was previously really used by WYFR, champ of WOOB pioneering (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 15420-CUSB, Dec 28 at 2007, the anapaestic androgynous preachperson from Fence Lake, NM, is in the clear on WBCQ; BBCWS extension until 2100 on this frequency was quite temporary, Mandela-inspired?

7490+, Dec 29 at 0108, WBCQ with better signal than recently, back up from QRP, or is it just propagational variation? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 9475, Dec 28 at 2018, clips from 1971y of CKLW, ``20-20 News`` hyped about rape in an elevator; turns out to be commercial for a DVD documentary, ``Rise and Fall of the Big 8``, then Ted Randall asking for listener feedback; so his `QSO` show, Sats 19-21 UT, breaking away from SFAW on WTWW-1 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** VATICAN. 11625, Dec 28 at 2013, VR English, fair signal with African Catholic news; sked daily 2000-2030, 250 kW, 214 degrees from SMG (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** ZANZIBAR. 11735, Dec 28 at 2012, Ungujan music, fair from ZBC, tho absent yesterday (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

This report dispatched at 1710 UT December 29