** ALBANIA. R. Tirana, 13720, carrier on as early as 1525, then IS from 1528, opening English to NAm at 1530 with full English schedule, including updated 7425 at 0130; she says broadcasts to North America are Monday to Sunday --- but that means from 1525 Monday to 0457 UT Sunday; it`s still six days a week except local Sundays (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CANADA. Further chex of the defective CBCNQ transmitter: Dec 24 at 0555, funxioning normally and nominally on 9625. But at 1318 it was acting up again: distorted Inuk(?) talk on 9625, ``Gloria`` carol, with spurs at modulation peaks audible as high as 9670 but worst around 9640-9645. Doesn`t seem to do it on the lower side. No replies received about this from Sackville or Montréal, to my recent notification about this problem (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CANADA. CFRX, 6070, still holding up with good signal and modulation; Dec 24 at 1336 ad for smart dishwashing machines at Home Depot. Still seems odd to hear a genuine (very) commercial North American station on SW, with lots of spots. CFRB ought to charge a premium on its ad rates now as long as SW is on the air, funxioning properly, and not subject to random overrides for SW IDs. But they would be laughed out of the ad agencies (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHAD. Paul Brouillette, in IL, reported to DXLD hearing RNT on 6165 until
2233* Dec 22, so I was wondering if they had moved all transmissions back to 6165 after a brief revival on 4905? No, in the morning, Dec 24 at 0601, heard only Croatia on 6165, and good signal from Chad on 4905 with music; 0603 non-French announcement, more music, then YL talking in non-French until 0613 more music, 0615 drumming and 0616 into OM speaking Arabic. Lite CODAR QRM thruout, which would have been worse without the strength of the Chad signal to diminish it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. 8400 still with Firedrake after a couple of weeks, so Sound of Hope must be sticking here too, Dec 24 at 1347 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. The DentroCuban Jamming Command continues to ruin many other frequencies besides the ones they need to. If you`re going to jam, do it responsibly, only against your enemies! That is, only on enemy frequencies, only when they are axually in use, and in Spanish. Incidentally, this would make your operation more efficient and effective against the real targets, without making more enemies!
Dec 24 at 1324, I found the pulses centered on 11930 against R. Martí were extending plus/minus 25 kHz, and thus also marring R. Romania International`s music on 11940. Also similar pulsing heard on 11490-11495 against nothing at 1326, further spur? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** EGYPT. 15710 with constant tone test, Dec 24 at 1406 and for next few minutes. Presumably R. Cairo after closing Indonesian service until 1400, as they habitually run tone afterwards for reasons unknown --- maybe it`s just occupying the audio feed channel and they don`t get around to turning off the transmitter promptly. Would that the clarity of the programming, normally extremely distorted, approached the purity of this tone! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GUINEA. See RUSSIA: no sign of 7125 post-coup(?) (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ITALY. Ham Roberto, I2VRN inbooming on SSB 7162 Dec 23 around 0700, working US hams in English. Not too surprising as Vatican Radio is a regular on 7250, but with somewhat more power and he was rivalling it. QRZ.com says he is: ROBERTO VERANI, VIA PAGLIARI BIVIO 6, I-26049 STAGNO LOMBARDO, CREMONA, ITALY (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KURDISTAN [non]. 7540, Dec 23 at 1455 with rather repetitive chanting, fair, continuing after 1500 with weaker talk; hmmm, what is this? Is PWBR any help? Of course not! Nothing listed on 7540 at this time. O yes, it`s Voice of Mesopotamia = Denge Mezopotamya in Kurdish as in Aoki, 1400-1800, 500 kW at 129 degrees via Ukraine, but this scheduling is to expire at yearend, with 11530 extended another hour until 1500. We usually hear it better on 11530 until 1400*, but only after WYFR closes at 1345 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** LIBYA. V. of Africa, 17725, 1442 Dec 24 with a bit of its habitual produxion music, probably off some American service years ago as it sounds familiar, then talking in English about Qaddafi with even more familiar Beethoven`s Ninth in the background. They never seem to tire of this subject; wonder why? Do not assume Ludwig would endorse Muammar (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. XEXQ, 6045, less classical and more exmassy, Dec 24 at 1332 with vocal group, 1333 YL solo ``Let it Snow``, 1335 ``Ave María`` --- maybe a medley moving right along. As usual, quite weak signal, and presumed.
This led me to wonder if it ever snows on San Luís Potosí? Searching on its clima I kept getting current and predicted weather pages rather than long-term climate data! Latitude is +22º 16, so snow not very likely, but altitude is 1903m, and at one point the cota de nieve was shown at 3500m, so mountains around may certainly get whitened, and SLP`s own low temp is soon to be 4 degrees; a bit colder and snow is possible (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. Looking for XEQMaya, Dec 24 around 1330 could only hear a weak het on low side of 6105 against FE stations, and no het at all after 1400 with VOA Chinese (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** RUSSIA [non]. Looking for anything from GUINEA`s only SW frequency, 7125, tuned in Dec 24 at 0600 only to hear Golos Rossii, Novosti opening, but cut off the air at 0600:20, unconvering absolutely nothing. Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Brasil, was still hearing nothing from Guinea at 0650-0730.
Russian International Radio, in Russian to NAm, is designed to occupy the 6 hours per night when Guinea is not scheduled on 7125, i.e. 0000-0600; HFCC and EiBi say site is ``Armavir`` but Aoki, PWBR and WRTH say Moldova = Grigoriopol = Pridnestrovye (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U K [non]. 7135 with weak B-B-C chimes, Dec 24 at 1343, poor with QRhaM. At this odd hour figured it must be the Burmese service about to open with that wacky timesignal. Sure enough, 1344:30 began some music, 1345 timesignal which was one second late compared to CHU 7335. Standard complaint about inaccurate timesignals. And then into Burmese. This transmission is a semisesquihour at 340 degrees from Singapore (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [non]. VOA news in English, surprised to hear good signal on 7575, Dec 24 at 1338 as announcer stumbled, blowing pronunciation of Guantánamo. What does PWBR `2009` say? Nothing! No listings at all for this frequency. WRTH, Eibi and Aoki don`t have it either as this is a late IBB change.
7575 just started Dec 21: 12-13 Sri Lanka at 33 degrees, 13-14 Tinian at 279 degrees ex-Tinang 9345 at 21 degrees which was good for NAm; 14-16 Thailand at 280 degrees (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [non]. 13600, Dec 24 at 1456 with instrumental version of ``Away in the Manger``, QRMing CODAR. Does PWBR have it? Of course not! 1458 into YFR theme music, as per EiBi it`s Uzbek at 14-15 via Wertachtal (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 6074, checking for 8GAL, Dec 24 at 1400, after 5-second-late-compared-to-CHU R. Rossii timesignal, open carrier stayed on 6075 and no CW heard --- until 1401-1402, very weak and could barely make out 8GAL ID (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. Intruder watch: more Spanish 2-way SSB, on approx. 9482, Dec 24 at 1350 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 10960-10990, Dec 24 at 1436 with rapid pulsing we think is over-the-horizon radar, centred on 10975. A great place for it, far away from any broadcasters (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 13665 with strong tone test, Dec 24 at 1433-1437*. At first it was constant, 1 kHz? But then began stepping up and down, not sweeping, to the point of inaudibility, as if a transmitter were going thru a proof-of-performance on its modulation range. Nothing scheduled on 13665 at this time.
After it cut off, I started scanning the 11 MHz band and found the same kind of thing happening until 1443* on 11785: that frequency is currently registered, but not used on weekdays by WHRI, so suspect World Harvest Radio was also the source on 13665. I then quickly scanned the 15, 9, 7 and 6 MHz bands but found no more tone tests (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
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