** ALBANIA. R. Tirana has good strong signals but the modulation, I am sorry to say, is often awful and this was the case during some checks Dec 31:
7435, new frequency to Eu/NAm in Albanian, Dec 31 at 2130 very distorted, seemed like a public speech. 2208, 7435 during music also with degraded modulation.
6110, Albanian to NAm at 0018 Jan 1, terribly distorted audio and breaking up despite S9+20 signal, both music and talk. Something has to be done with their studio playback and/or studio-transmitter links, to get a clear good-fidelity signal on the air (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** AUSTRIA. 6155 at 2148 Dec 31 with novelty song in German about his Weib, ending with `Oy Vey`, thrice! Hmmm, maybe it was Yiddish, and who says Austria is still anti-Semitic? Seems like a New Year`s Eve special show from a cabaret. One might have listened for Jahrwechsel at 2300 UT, except 6155 was off before 2200 in time for BBCWS hour in English.
7325 to NAm was still on at 0015 UT Jan 1, replaying the Jörg Heider retrospective I had heard earlier via Sackville. So maybe this was the final English transmission on SW (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CANADA. CHU observations before, during, and after QSY from 7335 to 7850, Dec 31, 2008:
At 1850, 7335 still running as usual. 2138, 7335 is off and 7850 is not yet on. Keep monitoring the new frequency.
*2227, 7850 carrier comes on. 2235 recheck, has already started modulating with usual timesignals, and still including the frequency change announcements at :15 past each minute. Signal is equivalent to 7335, but NO interference, which around this time had been coming from Vatican. As I outpoint in DXLD, several other utilities have been reported on or around 7850, from France, Georgia, Israel, so, fingers crossed.
2359 monitoring for the leap second, also WWV on another receiver: I had previously synched my watch, so did not need to count the 61 seconds, but sure enough, the 0000 UT January 1, 2009 pip came one second later than 2359 and earlier. Not surprisingly, CHU and WWV were exactly synchronized in this.
This meant I had to miss BBCWS at yearchange, full chime of Big Ben, which used to be a tradition. But they don`t make it easy on SW, and there`s no point in listening to timesignal events on delayed webcasts. BBCWS had been coming in OK on 9570 via Thailand, discussing fireworx in Iceland at 2355 but after 0000 CRI relay via Albania was on 9570 as usual instead, so BBCWS probably was off before 0000 anyway (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CANADA [and non]. 6100, Dec 31 at 2150, RCI in French with a rippling SAH, so maybe a couple dekaHertz away, but no other modulation audible. Most likely de SERBIA [non], also in French during this semihour (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHAD [and non]. 4905 was active Dec 31, first noted at 2153 with French announcement, and had improved a lot by 2230, its normal sign-off, so decided to stay with RNT for the 2300 Jahrwechsel in the UT+1 zone. Was playing hilife music; 2254 announcement in French that 6 minutes were left, mixed with Arabic; 2257, `trois minutes` until the `nouvel an`, 2259 military band with lots of drumming right past 2300 with no timesignal; finally at 2300:30 to a speech in clearly enunciated French, by the leader? Still going at 2307, but 2309 military band again, 2310 announced the forthcoming `traduction en langue arabe` which lasted about as long; retuned at 2322 to hear the military band once again, probably the national anthem, and off at 2323*. Much better signal than grossly undermodulated Mauritania on 4845: big signal but barely audible with strumming at 2237 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA [non]. 6145, Dec 31 at 2145 good signal with woman speaking Hungarian. I figured this was one of the few remaining R. Budapest broadcasts, but upon uplooking it, no, it`s CRI via France! How many other SW stations still broadcast in Hungarian? More than I had thought, according to the ADDX Ungarisch page: Vatican, TWR, Turkey, Croatia (R. Osijek relay), Russia, Serbia (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA [and non]. DentroCuban Jamming Command, 11930, blows out a Bronx cheer to the world as it celebrates a semi-century of repression: Dec 31 at 2205 jamming pulses to which tones have now been added, despite being against nothing after R. Martí sign-off. BTW, Pres. Obama`s online advisors are voting on turning off Radio Martí permanently (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** EGYPT. R. Cairo monitoring NYE produced the usual frustrations: 6255, Dec 31 at 2156 during English to Europe, YL talking undermodulatedly; 2158 several seconds of ute beeps QRMing almost like a timesignal. Modulation got even lower, but I could tell she kept talking right thru local midnight 2200 as if nothing were happening.
I quickly retuned to the Arabic frequency 6290, which as if to overcompensate, was strongly and distortedly modulated with music, soon giving way to a 10-9-8+ countdown in English! And then a timesignal which was 33.5 seconds late. So R. Cairo misled countless Egyptians [and non] about when 2009y really began. Another surprise: immediately after the timesignal played a few bars of the ``Happy Birthday`` tune, but perhaps with different Arabic lyrix.
Back to 6255 at 2239; now playing Arabic music with good modulation; 2240 undermodulated YL with a heavy accent made a very quick English announcement so I could barely catch a word except ``49 meters``, right back to music, which had apparently been put on a mechanical pause button, because it restarted off-speed rather than cleanly. This continued until 2245, into usual post-transmission tone test.
6850, brief check of R. Cairo`s English to NAm, Dec 31 at 2350, S9+20 signal but talk just barely modulated. O, the futility! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GREECE. Sounds like the Greeks were having a NYE party too: VOG, 7475, Dec 31 at 2207 piano music punxuated by kazoo, sirens, the latter with an unfortunate connotation these weeks; different program on 7450 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GUINEA [non]. During my NYE monitoring Dec 31, checked 7125 several times. At 2154 nothing there, no carrier audible. 2319 nothing there either altho Russia was audible this early previous days, and now Romania was making it on 7105. 2354 still nothing on 7125, but at 0016 Jan 1 Russia/Pridnestrovye had finally come on with rock beat music (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NIGERIA. VON is another station which might have had a NY celebration at 2300 UT Dec 31; 7255 carrier was still on at 2259, but I had too much else to monitor at the same time (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** OKLAHOMA. My local KCRC 1390 Enid has an intermittent harmonic problem. Looking for NYE pirates, Dec 31 at 2314 instead heard distorted ad for Walgreens and ESPN Radio, on 6950, the fifth harmonic of // 1390. But it was gone at next check a few minutes later, nor heard on x 4 = 5560 where I recently had it too (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. 6175, Dec 31 at 2146 had Brother Scare mixing with something in French. B.S. is via Wertachtal, 100 kW, 300 degrees to W Europe at 21-22, while French is RFI, 500 kW, 204 degrees to W Africa at 21-22, but The Overcomer increases to 20-22 from Jan 1. No doubt some frequency managers rationalize this as a good share to different target areas even tho transmitted from adjacent countries. We can only hope that Brother Scare is getting the worst of the collision; the 5:1 power ratio should help (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN. REE NYE monitoring: 9640, Dec 31 at 2211 talking about uvas gordas, rock classics in Spanish; also on // 7275 at 2227. For the 2300 Jahrwechsel, I was going to try to monitor this with one ear and Chad with the other, but 9640 went into sign-off announcement at 2255, saying we could keep listening on Intelsat (sorry, don`t have one handy), and would resume in 3 minutes on 6125, 9620, 11680 and 9535 to America. This hour from 2200 had also been to Africa on 5250, it sounded like they said, but must have meant 7270 per skeds. I then tuned to 6125 and found it already on the air with programming, but fluttery and much inferior to 9640 while 9535 was running the IS.
At 2300 could hear full strike of some clock on 6125. At 2320 I noticed that 7275 was still on the air, so maybe it was unimpeded at hourtop (yeartop) had I been listening to it; also audible on 9620 and better 9535 now with big band music, playing novelty song in Spanish, then sounded like an antique record with `boogie` lyrix, which I take not to be pure Castilian. 2327 ``Mambo Rock`` with English lyrix, 2336 a cowboy love song. 0005 UT Jan 1, 9535 still going with more novelty songs including mock-Hawaiian, Spike Jones? Hawaiian War Chant, 0010 Royal Victorian Calypso; 0020 still calypso, 0028 a cowboy yodel song in English. Mentioned several times that this show was from Radio 3, also on Radio 5 and REE until 3 am local, or was it 2 am. Some quite entertaining music, and not what you expect from Madrid (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** UKRAINE. Wondering if RUI is still on the air in 2009? Jan 1 at 0014 good on 7440 in Ukrainian, but inaudible on 9785 if extra frequency to SAm is still airborne; could well be, usually above MUF (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WBCQ, 15420, Wed Dec 31 at 2220 with new WORLD OF RADIO 1441 in progress; very slightly off-frequency per BFO-stepping but nothing to het it. The 2000 broadcast on 7415 contained an old show from September; perhaps 1441 will appear this week on Thursday at 2000, as well as 0030 UT Friday on 7415 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. 6300, R. Nacional de la RASD, good in Spanish shortly after 2300 Dec 31, and at 2351 recheck during music; intermittent ute pulse QRM. Another one I wish I could have monitored at imminent Jahrwechsel, but trumped by a leap second. Where to find this in the WRTH 2009? Not under ALGERIA, MOROCCO, or WESTERN SAHARA in the domestic or international sexions, but on page 498 of C&OT under W (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 5010, something there with lowly-modulated talk, Dec 31 at 2246. Suspect it was Madagascar on late, as the signal did not improve as it should have in the following hour if it were Dominican Republic. 2311 detectable but very poor (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
7435, new frequency to Eu/NAm in Albanian, Dec 31 at 2130 very distorted, seemed like a public speech. 2208, 7435 during music also with degraded modulation.
6110, Albanian to NAm at 0018 Jan 1, terribly distorted audio and breaking up despite S9+20 signal, both music and talk. Something has to be done with their studio playback and/or studio-transmitter links, to get a clear good-fidelity signal on the air (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** AUSTRIA. 6155 at 2148 Dec 31 with novelty song in German about his Weib, ending with `Oy Vey`, thrice! Hmmm, maybe it was Yiddish, and who says Austria is still anti-Semitic? Seems like a New Year`s Eve special show from a cabaret. One might have listened for Jahrwechsel at 2300 UT, except 6155 was off before 2200 in time for BBCWS hour in English.
7325 to NAm was still on at 0015 UT Jan 1, replaying the Jörg Heider retrospective I had heard earlier via Sackville. So maybe this was the final English transmission on SW (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CANADA. CHU observations before, during, and after QSY from 7335 to 7850, Dec 31, 2008:
At 1850, 7335 still running as usual. 2138, 7335 is off and 7850 is not yet on. Keep monitoring the new frequency.
*2227, 7850 carrier comes on. 2235 recheck, has already started modulating with usual timesignals, and still including the frequency change announcements at :15 past each minute. Signal is equivalent to 7335, but NO interference, which around this time had been coming from Vatican. As I outpoint in DXLD, several other utilities have been reported on or around 7850, from France, Georgia, Israel, so, fingers crossed.
2359 monitoring for the leap second, also WWV on another receiver: I had previously synched my watch, so did not need to count the 61 seconds, but sure enough, the 0000 UT January 1, 2009 pip came one second later than 2359 and earlier. Not surprisingly, CHU and WWV were exactly synchronized in this.
This meant I had to miss BBCWS at yearchange, full chime of Big Ben, which used to be a tradition. But they don`t make it easy on SW, and there`s no point in listening to timesignal events on delayed webcasts. BBCWS had been coming in OK on 9570 via Thailand, discussing fireworx in Iceland at 2355 but after 0000 CRI relay via Albania was on 9570 as usual instead, so BBCWS probably was off before 0000 anyway (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CANADA [and non]. 6100, Dec 31 at 2150, RCI in French with a rippling SAH, so maybe a couple dekaHertz away, but no other modulation audible. Most likely de SERBIA [non], also in French during this semihour (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHAD [and non]. 4905 was active Dec 31, first noted at 2153 with French announcement, and had improved a lot by 2230, its normal sign-off, so decided to stay with RNT for the 2300 Jahrwechsel in the UT+1 zone. Was playing hilife music; 2254 announcement in French that 6 minutes were left, mixed with Arabic; 2257, `trois minutes` until the `nouvel an`, 2259 military band with lots of drumming right past 2300 with no timesignal; finally at 2300:30 to a speech in clearly enunciated French, by the leader? Still going at 2307, but 2309 military band again, 2310 announced the forthcoming `traduction en langue arabe` which lasted about as long; retuned at 2322 to hear the military band once again, probably the national anthem, and off at 2323*. Much better signal than grossly undermodulated Mauritania on 4845: big signal but barely audible with strumming at 2237 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA [non]. 6145, Dec 31 at 2145 good signal with woman speaking Hungarian. I figured this was one of the few remaining R. Budapest broadcasts, but upon uplooking it, no, it`s CRI via France! How many other SW stations still broadcast in Hungarian? More than I had thought, according to the ADDX Ungarisch page: Vatican, TWR, Turkey, Croatia (R. Osijek relay), Russia, Serbia (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA [and non]. DentroCuban Jamming Command, 11930, blows out a Bronx cheer to the world as it celebrates a semi-century of repression: Dec 31 at 2205 jamming pulses to which tones have now been added, despite being against nothing after R. Martí sign-off. BTW, Pres. Obama`s online advisors are voting on turning off Radio Martí permanently (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** EGYPT. R. Cairo monitoring NYE produced the usual frustrations: 6255, Dec 31 at 2156 during English to Europe, YL talking undermodulatedly; 2158 several seconds of ute beeps QRMing almost like a timesignal. Modulation got even lower, but I could tell she kept talking right thru local midnight 2200 as if nothing were happening.
I quickly retuned to the Arabic frequency 6290, which as if to overcompensate, was strongly and distortedly modulated with music, soon giving way to a 10-9-8+ countdown in English! And then a timesignal which was 33.5 seconds late. So R. Cairo misled countless Egyptians [and non] about when 2009y really began. Another surprise: immediately after the timesignal played a few bars of the ``Happy Birthday`` tune, but perhaps with different Arabic lyrix.
Back to 6255 at 2239; now playing Arabic music with good modulation; 2240 undermodulated YL with a heavy accent made a very quick English announcement so I could barely catch a word except ``49 meters``, right back to music, which had apparently been put on a mechanical pause button, because it restarted off-speed rather than cleanly. This continued until 2245, into usual post-transmission tone test.
6850, brief check of R. Cairo`s English to NAm, Dec 31 at 2350, S9+20 signal but talk just barely modulated. O, the futility! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GREECE. Sounds like the Greeks were having a NYE party too: VOG, 7475, Dec 31 at 2207 piano music punxuated by kazoo, sirens, the latter with an unfortunate connotation these weeks; different program on 7450 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GUINEA [non]. During my NYE monitoring Dec 31, checked 7125 several times. At 2154 nothing there, no carrier audible. 2319 nothing there either altho Russia was audible this early previous days, and now Romania was making it on 7105. 2354 still nothing on 7125, but at 0016 Jan 1 Russia/Pridnestrovye had finally come on with rock beat music (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NIGERIA. VON is another station which might have had a NY celebration at 2300 UT Dec 31; 7255 carrier was still on at 2259, but I had too much else to monitor at the same time (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** OKLAHOMA. My local KCRC 1390 Enid has an intermittent harmonic problem. Looking for NYE pirates, Dec 31 at 2314 instead heard distorted ad for Walgreens and ESPN Radio, on 6950, the fifth harmonic of // 1390. But it was gone at next check a few minutes later, nor heard on x 4 = 5560 where I recently had it too (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. 6175, Dec 31 at 2146 had Brother Scare mixing with something in French. B.S. is via Wertachtal, 100 kW, 300 degrees to W Europe at 21-22, while French is RFI, 500 kW, 204 degrees to W Africa at 21-22, but The Overcomer increases to 20-22 from Jan 1. No doubt some frequency managers rationalize this as a good share to different target areas even tho transmitted from adjacent countries. We can only hope that Brother Scare is getting the worst of the collision; the 5:1 power ratio should help (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN. REE NYE monitoring: 9640, Dec 31 at 2211 talking about uvas gordas, rock classics in Spanish; also on // 7275 at 2227. For the 2300 Jahrwechsel, I was going to try to monitor this with one ear and Chad with the other, but 9640 went into sign-off announcement at 2255, saying we could keep listening on Intelsat (sorry, don`t have one handy), and would resume in 3 minutes on 6125, 9620, 11680 and 9535 to America. This hour from 2200 had also been to Africa on 5250, it sounded like they said, but must have meant 7270 per skeds. I then tuned to 6125 and found it already on the air with programming, but fluttery and much inferior to 9640 while 9535 was running the IS.
At 2300 could hear full strike of some clock on 6125. At 2320 I noticed that 7275 was still on the air, so maybe it was unimpeded at hourtop (yeartop) had I been listening to it; also audible on 9620 and better 9535 now with big band music, playing novelty song in Spanish, then sounded like an antique record with `boogie` lyrix, which I take not to be pure Castilian. 2327 ``Mambo Rock`` with English lyrix, 2336 a cowboy love song. 0005 UT Jan 1, 9535 still going with more novelty songs including mock-Hawaiian, Spike Jones? Hawaiian War Chant, 0010 Royal Victorian Calypso; 0020 still calypso, 0028 a cowboy yodel song in English. Mentioned several times that this show was from Radio 3, also on Radio 5 and REE until 3 am local, or was it 2 am. Some quite entertaining music, and not what you expect from Madrid (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** UKRAINE. Wondering if RUI is still on the air in 2009? Jan 1 at 0014 good on 7440 in Ukrainian, but inaudible on 9785 if extra frequency to SAm is still airborne; could well be, usually above MUF (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WBCQ, 15420, Wed Dec 31 at 2220 with new WORLD OF RADIO 1441 in progress; very slightly off-frequency per BFO-stepping but nothing to het it. The 2000 broadcast on 7415 contained an old show from September; perhaps 1441 will appear this week on Thursday at 2000, as well as 0030 UT Friday on 7415 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. 6300, R. Nacional de la RASD, good in Spanish shortly after 2300 Dec 31, and at 2351 recheck during music; intermittent ute pulse QRM. Another one I wish I could have monitored at imminent Jahrwechsel, but trumped by a leap second. Where to find this in the WRTH 2009? Not under ALGERIA, MOROCCO, or WESTERN SAHARA in the domestic or international sexions, but on page 498 of C&OT under W (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 5010, something there with lowly-modulated talk, Dec 31 at 2246. Suspect it was Madagascar on late, as the signal did not improve as it should have in the following hour if it were Dominican Republic. 2311 detectable but very poor (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
