venerdì 21 marzo 2014

Glenn Hauser logs March 20, 2014

** AUSTRALIA. 12065 VG // much weaker 12085, Thursday March 20 at 1407, R. Australia is repeating the author interview exposing Sarah Palin I heard a few days ago, to the chagrin of her acolytes (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** BANGLADESH. 15505, March 20 at 1357, Bangladesh Betar carrier is on, 1359 IS, very poor but easy to copy the 5+1 timesignal ending today at 1359:46.5, opening Urdu (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHINA. 9350, March 20 at 1135, Firedrake jamming music, poor with flutter, and some CCI. Aoki shows at 11-14 it`s RFA Tibetan via TAJIKISTAN (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHINA. 7410, March 20 at 1130, CRI opening Filipino service with strange mixture of Spanish and English words as required in Tagalog: station is called ``Radio Internacional de China``, day is jueves, year is ``fourteen``, Malaysian flight is in English, ``M-H three seven zero``, in the ``Indian Ocean``.

[BTW: why are air disasters always referred to by flight number??? Several different aircraft may serve on a certain flight, but only one plane crashes with its unique ID = wing and radio callsign, in this case: 9M-MRO, according to the Malaysian Amateur Radio Emergency Service Society (MARES, not MARESS), which per a press release via Jose Jacob, was participating with a ``daily reporting and check-in session`` on 14250 & 21250, more or less, at 13-15 UT]

Filipino semihour is aimed south from Jinhua, but from 1200 we hear the CRI Russian service with a much solider signal, since 7410 is then USward from Shijiazhuang.

9460, March 20 at 1135, YL speaking Esperanto slowly with clear enunciation, as if she`s not a native speaker. Espo is easy to spot with lots of words ending in -ay or -oy, spelt -aj and -oj making them plurals of adjectives and nouns. Seems to be talking about a `drono`. This is CRI at 1102[sic]-1157, southward from Kunming per Aoki, also on 7210 & 9450 via Urumqi, East Turkistan at 1100-1157 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** COLOMBIA. 5910, March 20 at 1107, sermon in Spanish with consecutive translation to English! From Alcaraván Radio. What happened to the nice music? Presumably off-frequency as usual, but nothing to het it and no attempt to pinpoint it now. A few minutes earlier I think I heard the last notes of the Colombian NA on the other HJDH, 6010 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CUBA. 6000, March 20 at 1105 RHC ending NA and sign on with outdated frequency list in typical Soviet-style disorder: 12-16 on 17580, 17730, 15230, 11760, 11860, 12010, 9540; 12-14 on 9550, 9850, 6000; 14-16 on 15340, 13780, 11750. Since March 9, sign-on and sign-off are an hour earlier; I think everything here should be one hour earlier than announced. Will this go on for another 6+ months?

This early at 1117, RHC is VP on 11860, JBA on 11760 and inaudible on 12010, band just not open yet from Cuba; by 1140, 9850 & 9550 are very good (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** ECUADOR [and non]. 6050, March 20 at 1102, national anthem; must be a 6 am thing, as sign-on is circa 0830. Right into `A través de la Biblia` show, fair with some CCI, which would be Asyik FM, Malaysia and/or PBS Xizang, Lhasa, Tibet, per Aoki (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** GUAM. 15190, March 20 at 1403, gospel huxter in English, fair with flutter. For a brief moment I envisioned R. Africa reactivated from Equatorial Guinea, till I remembered that KTWR is really here from 1400; per EiBi, duration varies as I unravel it: 23 minutes on Monday, Thursday and Friday; 30 minutes on Tuesday and Saturday; 35 minutes on Wednesday and Sunday (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** GUATEMALA. 4055, March 20 at 1123, R. Verdad is still playing its cute banjo-theme around this time, variations on ``I`ve Been Workin` on the Railroad``, along with SFX, bells, other instruments, 1125 segué to a hymn, presumably in Dr. Madrid`s signature show ``El Tren del Evangelio``. Compared frequency to 6055 Nikkei, and found Truth to be very, very slightly on the lo side, certainly closer to 4055.00 than to 4054.90 as some have reported (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** INDONESIA. 3325-, March 20 at 1236, fair signal, but open carrier, no modulation audible, nor in further chex before 1300. Presumed RRI Palangkaraya. (CHU 3330 already faded out by 1236.) Compared to 7325 CRI Jinhua, 3325 is slightly on the lo side (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** IRAN. 11620, March 20 at 1408, S Asian song on very poor signal, seems same as on stronger 13710 but not in synch and with CCI, so AIR? No, 1409 announcement not in English, so instead it`s the double-whammy CCI from VIRI`s Dari service via Kamalabad and Ahwaz respectively, per Aoki (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MEXICO [and non]. 1700, March 20 at 1240-1250 UT, I am closely monitoring for signs of XEFCSM, after hearing the Mexican national anthem yesterday at 1245 under KVNS and KKLF --- but no sign of it today. At this hour, on this day, conditions from north are more favorable, with KBGG Iowa and KKLF mixing more than KVNS.

Explaining my [sic] about a 2013 licensing date for XEFCSM, Julián Santiago Díez de Bonilla says, ``Glenn, efectivamente el permiso para esta emisora es a partir del 30 de abril del 2013 al 29 de abril del 2025, es decir lleva casi un año de haber obtenido el permiso, saludos, Julián``.

So it`s been almost a year since then. I also summarize what he said earlier: Authorized for 50 kW day, 1 kW night. Licensee is the Cultural Foundation for Mexican Society (whose initials in Spanish match the callsign XEFCSM). However, Catholic Radio Update claims it as one of their own, in the Radio María group, which is why I assumed on WORLD OF RADIO that the `SM` refers to ``Santa María``. The CRU Catholic Travel Guide station listing previously linked shows several others in Mexico with obviously related calls, all on FM:

MEXICO (In Spanish)
Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua XEWR        1110
Cuernavaca, México       XHFCSM † .  94.1
Culiacán, Sinaloa        XHFCS .     90.3
Guadalajara, Jalisco     XELT .       920
Mérida, Yucatán          XEFCSM † .  1700
Puebla, Puebla           XHPBP † .  106.7
Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco XHFSM .    100.7
San Luís Potosí, SLP     XHCSM † .  107.9
Villahermosa, Tabasco    XEVA .       790
Villahermosa, Tabasco    XHVA .      91.7 

The daggers indicate ``† Station is not on the air but may soon be`` and another symbol which won`t copy means all except XEWR are with Radio Maria.

Overt religious, including Catholic broadcasting is supposedly prohibited in México, which makes their radio and TV dials a breath of fresh air compared to the USA, but gospel huxters are working around this obstacle. If there were no restrixions, you can bet that there would be dozens/hundreds of such stations, not just the dizaine above.

Israel González Ahumada`s comments said: remember that the Mexican government has been very restrictive, so it is probable that this station is registered as a civic association, not a religious association. Several religious organizations in the past invested in cultural groups in order to operate without governmental harassment.

Anyhow, further monitoring of 1700 is essential! I`ve yet to see any other logs of XEFCSM (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MICRONESIA. 4755, March 20 at 1155, I am monitoring with BFO to catch the autocutoff of PMA The Cross, but I am hearing two very weak carriers on slightly different frequencies. One goes off at 1156:44* and the other at 1157:33*. A few weeks ago, Dave Valko was also reporting a second unID station on 4755; did anything come of that? Could PMA possibly be running two equally weak transmitters, each with a separate timer? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** TAIWAN. 9734.86, March 20 at 1116, good signal on the USward beam toward Japan, ``Taiwan Hoso`` measured off-frequency, 3.5 x 40 Hz clix on the DX-398 below 9735.00; nothing to het it but on 5-kHz steps also obviously low compared to neighbors. I did not check this exactly on my previous log March 12; Ron Howard says RTI was on 9734.84 March 16 and 17 and also today 20 at 1204, so I will concede 20 Hz to him; but March 18 he and Wolfgang Büschel found it on exactly 9735.0 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** TURKEY. 17755, March 20 at 1226, VOT IS on fair signal, prior to German service, also aimed USward, and far better than we can hear English in our mornings at 1330 which is way down on 12035. In A-14 as usual, English will shift to 1230 and to 15450, which will be slightly better for us than 12035 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U K. 17780, March 20 at 1220, French report on Russie, fair signal, from BBCWS via Woofferton at 1200-1230. See also UNID 17745 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1713 monitoring: confirmed first broadcast on WRMI 9955, Thursday March 20 at 1230:03 following WRMI ID by gh, which followed R. Prague fill music. Atop lite pulse jamming. Recheck at 1250-1259, I don`t hear any overlap between WRMI-10 and WRMI-11, which may have switched earlier today. 1259 `Scoreboard` is back to including scores. Further WOR airings:

Thursday 2101 on WTWW-1, 9475
UT Friday 0326v on WWRB, 3195 [we hope: missing last two weeks]
Saturday 0730 & 1530 on Hamburger Lokalradio, 7265-CUSB
Saturday 2330 on WTWW-2, 9930 [we hope: off the air last week]
UT Sunday 0030 on WRMI-14, 9495
UT Monday 0300v on Area 51 via WBCQ, 5110v-CUSB
Tuesday 1100 on WRMI-10, 9955
Wednesday 1300 on WRMI-11, 9955
UT Thursday 0330 on WRMI-10, 9955 [or maybe new 1714]
Full schedule including many webcasts, AM, FM, satellite:
http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 9955, Thursday March 20 at 1142, WRMI atop pulse jamming as `Viva Miami` this week is ending in Spanish, Thaïs & Jeff in mailbag segment (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 750, March 20 at 1210 UT, YL in Ukrainian with news about – Ukraine and Krim, what else; occasional music liners. Has the frequency to itself for the moment, no KMMJ (or KSEO, ha2). Of course it`s WNDZ, Portage IN (Chicago market). Its ratings must be way up lately, but probably not so much in Oklahoma (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGESET)

** U S A. 1700, March 20 at 1158 UT, I am paying close attention to this frequency following yesterday`s discovery of a new Mexican presumably in Mérida. At this time, KVNS is dominant with Hidalgo County items from ``Channel 5 News`` atop KKLF Tejano music. 1200 UT ``KVNS, Brownsville and the Rio Grande Valley, 1700``, into Fox sports (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 1700, March 20 at 1158 UT, Tejano music from KKLF Richardson TX mixing with KVNS Brownsville news/sports; music plays right thru houtop, 1205 UT non-ID, ``By popular demand, Tejano returns to Dallas on Kick-1700``, right back to music. And at 1240 UT, ``Rockin` the Metroplex with a totally Tejano sound, Kick-1700``. Seems they run an English non-ID between every two or three songs which are always in Spanish. How bi-cultural! Does not believe in legal IDs? At 1241 UT beating against KBGG to the tune of 1.7 Hz (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 1700, March 20 at 1241 UT, traffic report ``on the 35``, i.e. KBGG Des Moines IA, since the other station on I-35, KKLF, is mixing with Mexican --- oops, Tejano if not Tejana music, at a SAH of 102 per minute = 1.7 Hz. 1243 UT, CBS Sports promo, which is the current net on KBGG (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 3230, March 20 at 1237 and earlier, very poor signal with AM carrier, only one on 90m besides 3325 Indonesia and 3185 WWRB; but NO broadcasters are listed anywhen, anywhere on 3230; ute? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 17745: report I sent to the address mentioned:

``As requested in announcement, I am reporting the test transmission I heard today on 17745 kHz. I had just tuned in at 1221 UT March 20 for some music, with a good signal, one of the best on the band, little fading and no interference about 10 minutes before sunrise here, when the music stopped and ``You are listening to a test. Please e-mail your report to
transmissiontest@gmail.com`` --- then a few notes of the standard Babcock music loop before cut off the air abruptly at 1221:40.

Since you ask for reports, I wonder if you would also verify by QSL card or letter.

I am also very curious about such tests, as I have heard several before, showing up on unexpected frequencies. What is the purpose? Was this one from Woofferton, and are other sites ever tested in this way?

I and other listeners really like the ``Babcock music``. Could you tell us something about it? Was it specially composed for this purpose, or from some previously existing piece of music? What are the instruments? Does it have a name?

I was listening on my old FRG-7 receiver, with long-wire antenna of about 100 feet running east-west.

Looking forward to your e-mail response, and if you wish to send me a QSL by postal mail, the address is:

Glenn Hauser
P O Box 1684
Enid OK 73702-1684
USA``

I got an *immediate* autoreply, even before the cc to myself appeared: ``Hello and thank you for taking the time to email us your transmission test report. We will send you a QSL shortly`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

This report dispatched at 1811 UT March 20