** BIAFRA [non]. 15665, V. of Biafra International via WHRI, Friday Jan 30 at 2052 check, insufficient, echoing with backscatter about equal to backlobe, but easily recognizable tones of The Orator, so reconfirmed. This is mainly in English, not Ibo, despite DX Mix Bulgaria schedule, and surely not more than weekly (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake check Jan 31 at 1432: both 8400 and 9000, much stronger on the former (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA [non]. Paused for a moment on R. Martí, 13820, since it was well atop the DentroCuban Jamming Command, Sat Jan 31 at 1632 for program ``Sin Pedir Permiso`` with Ernesto Betancourt. One of the guests interviewed by phone was Gen. Fernando Ochoa Antich, from Venezuela, apparently now in the opposition. Hmmm, could be a relative of Arnaldo Coro Antich of RHC thru his mother`s family. This is all a protracted family dispute between the dentro- and fuera-Cubans, which the US has been unfortunate enough to get pulled into (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ECUADOR. HCJB, opening transmission on 12000, Jan 30 at 2059 and into automated ID at 2059:30 in Spanish, claiming to be on 12000 to SAm, and 21455 to Europe, altho HCJB closed down 21455 almost a year ago. The lesson is: HCJB should never make any real frequency changes or close down any transmitters since they are unable or unwilling to update their announcements to match reality --- what am I saying? HCJB isn`t about reality! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** EGYPT. R. Cairo, 15080, Jan 31 at 1420 with ME music, Arabic mentions of Qahira, somewhat distorted but not weak audio; considerable fading, for W Africa (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** FRANCE. RFI English is still on SW, 15605, Sat Jan 31 at 1619 with story about starting a local radio station in Tanzania, with UNESCO help; American-accented narratrice Susan --- referred to it as a ``50-kHz transmitter``; I assume she meant 50-watt! Segment was Africa Media, and at 1622 onward to The Week in France, which started with Gaza. 1627 sports. 1630 ID plus Paris 1730 timecheck, and headlines including new president in Somalia, Madagascar, Iraq, Aussie Open. 1631 Network Europe, which saves RFI from having to produce a full hour of programming itself; sufficient reception tho aimed 170 degrees from Issoudun across Africa. This is about as close as we get to a North American service from RFI, which of course is not close at all, but enough of that 500 kW wanders over here (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GERMANY [non]. The avant-garde music show on DW`s Russian service, Muzprosvet, has not yet been cancelled. Glad to hear it again Sat Jan 31 at 1530 on 11720, 76 degrees via Rampisham, but sufficient reception here, with wide variety of quasi-musical sounds from didgeridoo, trumpet, jewsharp, voices, etc. Lasted until 1559:30 but at 1558:30 a 3 Hz SAH started on the frequency, which turned out to be Radio Free Asia in Uighur as introduced in English at 1600. That`s via Tinian, and Aoki says jammed, but no jamming audible.
I had tried several times without success to find a podcast of Muzprosvet on DW`s complicated and unfriendly website. Here`s the program`s page:
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,268970,00.html
Afterwards, this time I found it in the third category on the long list of DW Russian podcasts at
http://www.dw3d.de/dw/0,2142,4356,00.html
the exact link to this show audio being:
http://www.dw3d.de/popups/popup_multi_mediaplayer/0,,3736368_type_audio_struct_4356_format_WMedia,00.html
So I listened to it again with `perfect reception` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. RRI Fak2, 4790, the only Indo audible on 60m, with Makassar still missing from 4750, Jan 31 as late as 1445 with continuous YL talking in Indonesian; a bit of music around 1455 and gone, sign-off I suppose, but could have just outfaded (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** JAPAN [non]. It`s the last Saturday of the month, Jan 31, so NHKWNRJ`s English feature is a classic story instead of World Interactive --- 1412 on 11705 via Canada, tale about beheading, which I could easily do without, and so I did; at least there was no pre-echo this time from Yamata direct (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** OKLAHOMA. KEOR, 1120, Catoosa/Sperry/Tulsa, active again with stale unannounced oldies, Jan 30 at 1932 UT check. Still apparently testing pending sale to start regular programming with announcements, even commercials (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WWCR still with big harmonic problem: Jan 30 at 0723 check, VG signal on 6430, S9+22 and splattering plus and minus 15 kHz approx., 6415-6445; unlike some previous occasions, the fundamental also radiating on 3215, but only S9+19.
Also could hear second harmonix of 6 MHz frequencies: Jan 31 at 0622 on 11870, DGS 2 x 5935 mixing with WEWN Spanish fundamental; 11780, Pastor Pete Peters 2 x 5890, weak and no Brasil on at the moment; these were weakly audible on the FRG-7, but much stronger on the YB-400, i.e. the latter succumbing to receiver overload from the fundamentals. 0626, the strong harmonic on 6430 from // 3215 was still going.
Checking WWCR-3 webcast, Sat Jan 31, the 1730 airing of WORLD OF RADIO did not start until almost 1742, so on 12160 it may have been more than 5 minutes late. If you don`t hear WOR at a scheduled time, don`t give up (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. I just remarked that VOA`s Hausa service inbooms off the back from Greenville NC, 15185, M-F at 2030-2100 --- but not Jan 30 at 2050, when something unID was JBA. Perhaps it was missing, or perhaps the skip zone was too broad; at same time, WHRI 15665 was almost as weak from SC, which is not unusual for it on 19m, while more distant WBCQ was incoming well on 15420, plus aimed usward (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. Jan 30 at 1932 UT, exactly an hour after local mean noon, on caradio heard weak but steady signal on 1200 with weather for ``The Alamo City``, so must be WOAI San Antonio, residual skywave, as that`s a bit much for groundwave at almost 500 miles on this high a frequency, even tho it combats higher and higher solar angle southward (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
** CHINA. Firedrake check Jan 31 at 1432: both 8400 and 9000, much stronger on the former (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA [non]. Paused for a moment on R. Martí, 13820, since it was well atop the DentroCuban Jamming Command, Sat Jan 31 at 1632 for program ``Sin Pedir Permiso`` with Ernesto Betancourt. One of the guests interviewed by phone was Gen. Fernando Ochoa Antich, from Venezuela, apparently now in the opposition. Hmmm, could be a relative of Arnaldo Coro Antich of RHC thru his mother`s family. This is all a protracted family dispute between the dentro- and fuera-Cubans, which the US has been unfortunate enough to get pulled into (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ECUADOR. HCJB, opening transmission on 12000, Jan 30 at 2059 and into automated ID at 2059:30 in Spanish, claiming to be on 12000 to SAm, and 21455 to Europe, altho HCJB closed down 21455 almost a year ago. The lesson is: HCJB should never make any real frequency changes or close down any transmitters since they are unable or unwilling to update their announcements to match reality --- what am I saying? HCJB isn`t about reality! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** EGYPT. R. Cairo, 15080, Jan 31 at 1420 with ME music, Arabic mentions of Qahira, somewhat distorted but not weak audio; considerable fading, for W Africa (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** FRANCE. RFI English is still on SW, 15605, Sat Jan 31 at 1619 with story about starting a local radio station in Tanzania, with UNESCO help; American-accented narratrice Susan --- referred to it as a ``50-kHz transmitter``; I assume she meant 50-watt! Segment was Africa Media, and at 1622 onward to The Week in France, which started with Gaza. 1627 sports. 1630 ID plus Paris 1730 timecheck, and headlines including new president in Somalia, Madagascar, Iraq, Aussie Open. 1631 Network Europe, which saves RFI from having to produce a full hour of programming itself; sufficient reception tho aimed 170 degrees from Issoudun across Africa. This is about as close as we get to a North American service from RFI, which of course is not close at all, but enough of that 500 kW wanders over here (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GERMANY [non]. The avant-garde music show on DW`s Russian service, Muzprosvet, has not yet been cancelled. Glad to hear it again Sat Jan 31 at 1530 on 11720, 76 degrees via Rampisham, but sufficient reception here, with wide variety of quasi-musical sounds from didgeridoo, trumpet, jewsharp, voices, etc. Lasted until 1559:30 but at 1558:30 a 3 Hz SAH started on the frequency, which turned out to be Radio Free Asia in Uighur as introduced in English at 1600. That`s via Tinian, and Aoki says jammed, but no jamming audible.
I had tried several times without success to find a podcast of Muzprosvet on DW`s complicated and unfriendly website. Here`s the program`s page:
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,268970,00.html
Afterwards, this time I found it in the third category on the long list of DW Russian podcasts at
http://www.dw3d.de/dw/0,2142,4356,00.html
the exact link to this show audio being:
http://www.dw3d.de/popups/popup_multi_mediaplayer/0,,3736368_type_audio_struct_4356_format_WMedia,00.html
So I listened to it again with `perfect reception` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. RRI Fak2, 4790, the only Indo audible on 60m, with Makassar still missing from 4750, Jan 31 as late as 1445 with continuous YL talking in Indonesian; a bit of music around 1455 and gone, sign-off I suppose, but could have just outfaded (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** JAPAN [non]. It`s the last Saturday of the month, Jan 31, so NHKWNRJ`s English feature is a classic story instead of World Interactive --- 1412 on 11705 via Canada, tale about beheading, which I could easily do without, and so I did; at least there was no pre-echo this time from Yamata direct (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** OKLAHOMA. KEOR, 1120, Catoosa/Sperry/Tulsa, active again with stale unannounced oldies, Jan 30 at 1932 UT check. Still apparently testing pending sale to start regular programming with announcements, even commercials (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WWCR still with big harmonic problem: Jan 30 at 0723 check, VG signal on 6430, S9+22 and splattering plus and minus 15 kHz approx., 6415-6445; unlike some previous occasions, the fundamental also radiating on 3215, but only S9+19.
Also could hear second harmonix of 6 MHz frequencies: Jan 31 at 0622 on 11870, DGS 2 x 5935 mixing with WEWN Spanish fundamental; 11780, Pastor Pete Peters 2 x 5890, weak and no Brasil on at the moment; these were weakly audible on the FRG-7, but much stronger on the YB-400, i.e. the latter succumbing to receiver overload from the fundamentals. 0626, the strong harmonic on 6430 from // 3215 was still going.
Checking WWCR-3 webcast, Sat Jan 31, the 1730 airing of WORLD OF RADIO did not start until almost 1742, so on 12160 it may have been more than 5 minutes late. If you don`t hear WOR at a scheduled time, don`t give up (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. I just remarked that VOA`s Hausa service inbooms off the back from Greenville NC, 15185, M-F at 2030-2100 --- but not Jan 30 at 2050, when something unID was JBA. Perhaps it was missing, or perhaps the skip zone was too broad; at same time, WHRI 15665 was almost as weak from SC, which is not unusual for it on 19m, while more distant WBCQ was incoming well on 15420, plus aimed usward (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. Jan 30 at 1932 UT, exactly an hour after local mean noon, on caradio heard weak but steady signal on 1200 with weather for ``The Alamo City``, so must be WOAI San Antonio, residual skywave, as that`s a bit much for groundwave at almost 500 miles on this high a frequency, even tho it combats higher and higher solar angle southward (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
