venerdì 31 gennaio 2014

Glenn Hauser logs January 29-30, 2014

** ALBANIA. 5985, Jan 30 at 0635, ME music, Arabic announcement, poor signal and carrier unstable: it`s CRI via Cërrik, at 05-07, 240 degrees; // 7210 and 9590 sometimes also audible but unchecked (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** AMSTERDAM ISLAND [non]. 18130, Jan 30 at 1438, no sign of FT5ZM nor pileups in the area, so settled for Vlado in Slovakia, q.v. Trying 15m, plenty of pileups, at least on 21350, 21345, 21312, 21298, 21293, countless hams spouting nothing but their own calls over and over,  presumably provoked by FT5ZM in the region, but nothing audible here on its nominal 21285. Bill Smith, W1OW suggests consulting this running log of attempts and successful contacts:
http://www.dxscape.com/dxped/dxped3.html
Including lots of rude language (more so than on the ham bands??). It only goes back one hour, but as of 1720, FT5ZM had been using 21288 on 15m (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** AUSTRALIA. 15340, Jan 30 at 1523, RHC is conveniently absent today so I can hear Kununurra, fair signal with hymn; 1526, Ozish sign-off announcement for the S Asian service until tomorrow morning on 17760, and yes, still calling itself ``HCJB Australia``, despite manifesto from Colorado Springs HQ last week that the ministry has been renamed ``Reach Beyond``, banning historic HCJB brand. It lives longer straddling the Equator, and Down Under. Off at 1530* (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHINA. 9435-9460, Jan 30 at 1452-1506+, the CNR1 jammers centered on 9450 produce an echo, one of which is also the distorted blob expanding beyond 9450 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CUBA. 17730, Jan 29 at 2109, RHC is on what is normally a morning-only frequency until 1600*, apparent live speech in English with voice-over translation to Spanish.

It`s the CELAC summit in Habana, including some itty bitty English Caribbean islands which for unfathomable reasons ally themselves with the Cuban Commies. Or as RHC denominates it,
``II Cumbre de la Comunidad de Estados Latinoamericanos y Caribeños``,
http://www.radiohc.cu/especiales/celac

Says there are 33 member states, lots of foreign ministers and even heads of state attending, and the Cumbre was Jan 28-29. Did we hear anything about it on Yanqui media?? RHC coverage may well have been running all day long, but not checked earlier here, nor yesterday.

Soon found many other RHC mostly-morning frequencies in //: 17580-lofi, 15340, 15230, 13780, 13680, 12010, 11750, and at 2117 when there is now a speech originally in Spanish, even 9540-JBA. Seems they have lucked out with no noticeable collisions despite running these frequencies far beyond their usual spans, even during 21-22 UT which is normally a silent period for most transmitters.

The only other one, not in //, is 11760 in usual 2100-2130 French (was // 11880 off? Didn`t notice it), but at 2132, 11760 too has joined the Spanish group, and by now 13680 has gone off, replaced by 11860, another `morning` frequency instead of 11840. The official CELAC agenda showed the summit was to have closed already at 1930 UT Jan 29.

5040, RHC English is AWOL at 0637 Jan 30, while 5025 Rebelde is on.

11750, Jan 30 at 1334, RHC Spanish is just barely modulated, compared to 11760; ditto at 1508 recheck. 15230 is also undermodulated at 1432; while 15340 is completely missing, audiblizing AUSTRALIA, q.v. (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** GHANA [non]. 9830, Jan 29 at 2115, AWR in English giving address in Ghana, vs RTTY which is constant over here, but not over there? This semi-hour via Moosbrunn, AUSTRIA at 210 degrees could carry `Wavescan` on Sundays, but does not, apparently considered by HQ to be of no interest in Africa (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** INDIA. 11740, Jan 30 at 1448, SW Asian language, fair past 1451, presumably AIR Pashto service, new frequency via Bengaluru, per Jose Jacob and Wolfgang Büschel, rather than Panaji, Goa as per Aoki and Ivo. Clue: wb says it`s exactly on 11740.000, not a Goan characteristic. I should have relistened at 1530, when others have been hearing AIR`s domestic 9 pm English newscast on 11740 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** IRAN. 11675, Jan 30 at 1447, open carrier with flutter, same past 1500, 1512. I can only assume it`s the Russian service of VIRI, except failing to modulate the 500 kW coming out of Sirjan at 320 degrees also USward during the 1420-1520 hour. Wake up? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** PALAU. 9960, Jan 30 at 1457, BaBcoCk music loop which is somehow mesmerizing, even tho poor in QRM between WRMI and 9965 Cuban pulse jamming against nothing. This is filler *after* the 1430 Furusato no Kaze clandestine broadcast to Korea North in Japanese about abduxions (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also SOUTH CAROLINA [non]

** PHILIPPINES. 9465, Jan 30 at 1505, fair signal in Russian mentions ``golos boga``. No, it`s merely FEBC being extremely presumptuous, but then every gospel huxter thinx he`s *the* voice of god, not least Brother Scare. But Russian modestly lacks definite articles (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SLOVAKIA. 18135-USB, Jan 30 at 1438, OM3TWM is calling QRZ and making quick simplex contacts; is there some contest on this Thursday? Found him while hunting for Amsterdam Island, q.v., still no sign of it around here nor on 20m, but pileups at least on 15m. QRZ.com:

OM3TWM
VLADO LUDROVSKY
Lidicke namestie 10
KOSICE 04022
Slovak Republic
Apparently he doesn`t like CW or QRP, judging from his (naughty language, beware) website:
http://www.qrz.com/db/OM3TWM
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. 9370, Jan 30 at 1451, WWRB is missing, so so is BS, but on at next tuneby 1456. Still no WTWW-2 9930 (see USA: WTWW entry), but that audiblizes the nonsensical co-channel BS on 9930 from PALAU; its carrier is on at 1457, and ID sign-on 1459, into 1500 BS (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U K [non]. 9505, Jan 30 at 1504, BBCWS news in English, fair with flutter. This one is 250 kW, 10 degrees from OMAN at 1500-1800 per HFCC, and likely to collide with Sudan after 1630, which however is 100 kW aimed 210 degrees to totally different CIRAFs, so no problem, right? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1706 monitoring: ready well ahead of 0430 UT Thursday Jan 30, and confirmed at 0431 on WRMI webcast, but WRMI-10, 9955 is a JBA carrier, MUF not cooperating, whilst 7570 BS is blasting in from Okeechobee. Too bad RMI programming itself does not enjoy a 7 MHz frequency and on a NW antenna, but how was 9955 in South America? The K-index went up from 2 to 3 between 0300 and 0600 UT.

Confirmed next WOR airing at 1330 Jan 30 on WRMI-10, 9955. Finally, the gh ID plays before 1330:00 so WOR starts right on time, and is over just in time at 1359 for two notes of music fill before cutting to `Scoreboard`. This was on the SSE antenna with rather heavy pulse jamming, tnx a lot Arnie, but WOR/WRMI readable if you cared to put up with it. Overridden for a minute at 1356:30 by the WRMI-11 transmitter carrier northwest, which cut back on to stay amid `Scoreboard`.

Next: Thursday 2201 on WTWW-1 9475
UT Friday 0426v on WWRB 3195 (we hope; internet outage last week)
Saturday 0730 & 1530 on Hamburger Lokalradio 7265-CUSB
UT Sunday 0030 on WRMI-14 9495
UT Sunday 0030 on WTWW-2 5085
UT Sunday 0501 on WTWW-1 5830
UT Monday 0400v on Area 51 via WBCQ 5110v-CUSB
Tuesday 1200 on WRMI-10 9955
Wednesday 0730 & 1530 on HLR 7265-CUSB
Wednesday 1400 on WRMI-11 9955
Remember: WOR podcasts now via
http://www.rmrc.de
But listening on shortwave is encouraged, if possible
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 12105 & 9930, Jan 29 at 2113, both WTWW transmitters are off, leaving only 9475. 5085 is also missing Jan 30 at 0637 (so not overshadowing BS on 5110v-CUSB WBCQ) and 5085 still gone at 1340; also day frequency of WTWW-2, 9930 is missing at 1500 Jan 30, thus audiblizing the co-channel station BSing, T8WH Palau after its sign-on at 1459. See SOUTH CAROLINA [non]

George McClintock explained at 0411 UT Jan 30, with photos:

``WTWW # 2 transmitter failure --- A crack in #2 heat exchanger from freezing. There are 5 frozen spots.

Cutting out a bad section. The only scenario that matches the fact are: 1. The electrical power failed last night when the temperature was about 0 degrees. 2. Both transmitters have latching relays for filaments on and a separate relay for high voltage on. 3. When the power failed the #1 transmitter drained the water back into the building because of an automatic air valve. When AC power returned the #1 transmitter came to normal operation. 4. #2 transmitter did not drain on power failure and froze up because no air could get into the exchanger to allow the water to drain.

I have an automatic air inlet valve that I will order shortly and put on #2. #2 currently has a manual valve because an operator was to open it when needed. If everything goes according to plan, #2 will be operational tomorrow after I pick up some parts. George McClintock, WTWW Jan 29, 2014`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 17775, Jan 30 at 1433, KVOH has started propagating (never yet at *1400), but choral music suffers from distortion, rough modulation, and unstable carrier; quite unpleasant more likely to drive listeners away (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 1140, regarding yesterday`s log of KCXL now being ``Univisión Kansas City``, I belatedly search the NRCDXAS website on the call and find only this dated 12 Oct 2013:
``1140 KCXL MO Liberty – Format to TLK/NOS (ex-TLK/OLD)``. So greater flip to UV Spanish is more recent (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

This report dispatched at 1830 UT January 30