** CUBA [and non]. The DentroCuban Jamming Command normally doesn`t get going on 5980 until close to 0700 when R. Martí opens that frequency, but March 10 at 0607 there was already heavy grinding, no RM audible. DCJC is either DST-confused, or assumed that RM would move its transmissions forward an hour. Programming, maybe, but not frequency usage, I think. Cuba, a running dog, conveniently follows the lead of the USA in shifting to DST on the second Sunday in March.
Listened to R. Martí a bit at 1401 March 10 on 15330, way over jamming, when they were plugging periodismo.com so checked out http://www.periodismo.com --- is it anti-Castro, focused on Cuba? No, seems to be a good world news portal with many linx, including to R. Reloj in Cuba, and in USA to VOA instead of Martí (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GREECE. Once again, VOG`s single frequency left on air was 15650, good with Greek music, March 9 at 1315, and no sign of 9420. Also March 10 at 1337 Greek music and talk, but gone at 1358 recheck, and at 1418 could not find VOG on any other likely frequency, 15630, 12105 or 9420. Maybe if still on the air they are already on 7 MHz by then? Wish we could get a definitive interim schedule from them, but may be too fluxy (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDIA. Made a point to monitor the National Channel of AIR, 9425, 168 hours later, Monday March 9 at 1435 to see whether last week`s extended English broadcast was flukish or would recur. Yes, after the news in English, YL announced not one, but two frequencies on 31m, 9425, and could not copy the second one. Per
http://dxasia.info/india-frequency
the other possibilities on the air at the time, tho supposedly with other programming, are 9575 and 9835, where I do not normally hear AIR. So apparently these two SW frequencies cut away from the main domestic program on countless AM, FM and regional SW frequencies.
Nor could I copy name or reason for the program to follow, but played instrumental version of ``Yesterday``, 1437 more talk I could barely recognise as English, 1439 an overhaul of an old Hollies song into disco beat, ``Live for Today``; by next talk segment 1440, modulation and signal just too weak to follow further. A previous inquiry on the dx_india group about why 9425 has extra English has been answered by no one (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. VOI audible on 9525, March 10 at 1320 with a variety of voices from correspondents reporting in English; only poor-fair, with hum, and ACI from 9530 Chicom jamming plus IBB Philippines; after 1330 also squeezed on other side from 9520 RVA Philippines. Less QRM during the 1400 hour in Malay (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KUWAIT [and non]. 17885, R. Kuwait with Qur`an at 1405 March 20, fair signal but declining. This transmission is eastward for the FE and Pacific, so one wonders how well that high frequency holds up late into the night. It could have more of an audience off the back to the west. Beside it was more Qur`an, but alternating with plain talk in Arabic, stronger on 17895, which is BSKSA to North Africa (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NIGERIA [non]. Tuned in 7385 just in time to hear the tail end of what must be the new morning broadcast of Aso Radio, back to Nigeria, as per TDP via DX Mix News, via Samara, Russia, M-F 0530-0600, 250 kW, 188 degrees. Tue March 10 at 0557 African choir, poor with flutter, and splatter de 7375 Croatia-via-Germany; 0559 brief announcement in presumed Hausa, no ID heard, then open carrier, and both 7385 and 7375 off at 0600, the latter following a few tones (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** PORTUGAL. 3990-3995-4000, DRM noise audible March 10 at 0603, tho the DW DRM broadcast via Sines supposedly ends at 0559 as BBC Skelton in analog takes over 3995 at 0600. Forgot to turn it off in time? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEEST)
** SOLOMON ISLANDS. Definitely a weak carrier on 9541.5 causing a het with something on 9540, March 9 at 1340; some bits of audio but could not determine which frequency it was coming from; not // BBC 9740. Also a bit better March 10 at 1332 with audio certainly sounding like BBCWS in English on 9541.5. Per online listings, the 9540.0 station this hour would be CRI Kunming in Chinese (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN [non]. REE via Costa Rica, 15170, Tue Mar 10 at 1349 in Castilian substituting for real Basque, except for standard closing of 5-minute segment rendered axually in Basque, and 1350 into Catalan, for which there is no substitute. Way over the European RRI co-channel this date (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SUDAN [and non]. I happened to tune across 17790, best signal on 16m, Monday March 9 at 1818, which was RCI Sackville within The Link, interviewing someone from Miraya FM in Sudan, for 9 minutes; crummy quality line, apparently VOIP. He said the station is on FM in the south, has a permit to broadcast in the north, but no frequency assigned yet and that may take another year. Also on SW to the Darfur area 3 hours per day, plans to increase to 6 this year. There is also another unspecified Darfur project.
Is the station endangered, like other NGOs, following the indictment of Bashir? No indication of that so far, he says, despite having reported the event live. Things are ``really calm``, no problem. Gave website where people may listen to the station, but despite having mentioned Miraya`s SW service, this shortwave station gave no details! We know it`s 15-18 UT on 15650 via Slovakia, and hear it here better now that Greece has crashed. Then I went back and found the program on the RCI website:
http://www.rciviva.ca/rci/en/emissions/archives/archivesDetails_1952_09032009.shtml
``CANADIAN HELPS BRING RELIABLE NEWS TO SUDANESE: The Fondation Hirondelle is a Swiss NGO that establishes and manages independent media - mainly radio stations - in countries that are in conflict or post-conflict situations. In Sudan, working in partnership with the United Nations, the Fondation Hirondelle has set up Miraya FM and they've brought in a Canadian to run it. Marc Montgomery speaks with Jean-Claude Labrecque, former Radio Canada journalist and now head of Media and Editor-in-Chief at Miraya FM.``
There are audio linx. This part starts 13:14 into the second hour and I assume will be available indefinitely. BTW, no sign of RCI on 11805 which had been in use temporarily for the 18 UT transmission to Africa, but otherwise well audible here off the back on several frequencies (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TUNISIA. RTT, 7275 and 7190 both in open carrier at 0555 March 20, both supposed to be underway much earlier. At 0601 recheck both modulating Arabic, with 7275 slightly stronger. 7190 is doomed in A-09, moving to 7335 for the morning broadcast (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U K. BBCWS, 5875, end of English newscast at 0605 March 10, with background noise level ramping up at each pause, as if a limiter is very maladjusted. Have not noticed such a problem at BBC before, originating in studio, or processing at Rampisham? The noise vanished at 0606 as next program started, but then reappeared, an annoying roar every few sex (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. VOA continues to consider shortwave not even worth mentioning as one of its ``platforms`` --- On VG 15590, March 10 at 1359 wrapping up Éxitos Latinoamericanos music show ``vía satélite e internet``; 1359:30 cut the music, start standard VOA sign-off in English, but cut carrier after only a few words of that. In only one minute one observed a gross lack of coördination in multiple ways (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WRMI, 9955, with R. Prague, March 9 at 1410 talk about ancient bridges over the Vltava; 1415 or so, Magic Carpet music show. Useless dentroCuban jamming continued, but WRMI on top. Running early, 1424 going to irrelevant R. Prague French transmission schedule, 1426 program promos for World Baseball Today (tnx for mentioning WOR therein) and something else; 1427 starting Frecuencia al Día three minutes early; and still jammed at 1441 final check. Strangely enough, RHC`s DX programs in English and Spanish do not get jammed and thus enjoy an unfair advantage.
Rechecking 9955 March 9 at 2122, nothing but heavy jamming was audible, the DentroCuban Jamming Command apparently assuming WRMI was on the air with Radio República, which for a few months had started at 2200, and might now with DST start at 2100, except it was cancelled on 9955 at the end of February! WRMI is presumably filling the time with more innocuous English broadcasts from World Radio Network, between 17 and 01 UT weekdays, but WRMI`s online schedule has not been updated since January, so, aside from further changes not yet appearing, one must treat the Eastern times shown as EDT (UT -4) now rather than EST (UT -5).
Another check of 9955 the next morning, March 10 at 1422, Prague relay again with VG and steady S9+20 signal way over still-present jamming, discussing new press law. Wish WRMI were this well-heard all the time
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [and non]. WBCQ still has a collision problem on 15420, should one wish to listen to the anapaestic Fence Lake preacher between 17 and 19 UT, when BBCWS is also on 15420, 250 kW at 5 degrees via South Africa. Here in OK, March 9 at 1815, found a bad mix but BBC somewhat stronger, and a lo het from slightly off-frequency `BCQ (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
Listened to R. Martí a bit at 1401 March 10 on 15330, way over jamming, when they were plugging periodismo.com so checked out http://www.periodismo.com --- is it anti-Castro, focused on Cuba? No, seems to be a good world news portal with many linx, including to R. Reloj in Cuba, and in USA to VOA instead of Martí (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GREECE. Once again, VOG`s single frequency left on air was 15650, good with Greek music, March 9 at 1315, and no sign of 9420. Also March 10 at 1337 Greek music and talk, but gone at 1358 recheck, and at 1418 could not find VOG on any other likely frequency, 15630, 12105 or 9420. Maybe if still on the air they are already on 7 MHz by then? Wish we could get a definitive interim schedule from them, but may be too fluxy (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDIA. Made a point to monitor the National Channel of AIR, 9425, 168 hours later, Monday March 9 at 1435 to see whether last week`s extended English broadcast was flukish or would recur. Yes, after the news in English, YL announced not one, but two frequencies on 31m, 9425, and could not copy the second one. Per
http://dxasia.info/india-frequency
the other possibilities on the air at the time, tho supposedly with other programming, are 9575 and 9835, where I do not normally hear AIR. So apparently these two SW frequencies cut away from the main domestic program on countless AM, FM and regional SW frequencies.
Nor could I copy name or reason for the program to follow, but played instrumental version of ``Yesterday``, 1437 more talk I could barely recognise as English, 1439 an overhaul of an old Hollies song into disco beat, ``Live for Today``; by next talk segment 1440, modulation and signal just too weak to follow further. A previous inquiry on the dx_india group about why 9425 has extra English has been answered by no one (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. VOI audible on 9525, March 10 at 1320 with a variety of voices from correspondents reporting in English; only poor-fair, with hum, and ACI from 9530 Chicom jamming plus IBB Philippines; after 1330 also squeezed on other side from 9520 RVA Philippines. Less QRM during the 1400 hour in Malay (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KUWAIT [and non]. 17885, R. Kuwait with Qur`an at 1405 March 20, fair signal but declining. This transmission is eastward for the FE and Pacific, so one wonders how well that high frequency holds up late into the night. It could have more of an audience off the back to the west. Beside it was more Qur`an, but alternating with plain talk in Arabic, stronger on 17895, which is BSKSA to North Africa (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NIGERIA [non]. Tuned in 7385 just in time to hear the tail end of what must be the new morning broadcast of Aso Radio, back to Nigeria, as per TDP via DX Mix News, via Samara, Russia, M-F 0530-0600, 250 kW, 188 degrees. Tue March 10 at 0557 African choir, poor with flutter, and splatter de 7375 Croatia-via-Germany; 0559 brief announcement in presumed Hausa, no ID heard, then open carrier, and both 7385 and 7375 off at 0600, the latter following a few tones (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** PORTUGAL. 3990-3995-4000, DRM noise audible March 10 at 0603, tho the DW DRM broadcast via Sines supposedly ends at 0559 as BBC Skelton in analog takes over 3995 at 0600. Forgot to turn it off in time? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEEST)
** SOLOMON ISLANDS. Definitely a weak carrier on 9541.5 causing a het with something on 9540, March 9 at 1340; some bits of audio but could not determine which frequency it was coming from; not // BBC 9740. Also a bit better March 10 at 1332 with audio certainly sounding like BBCWS in English on 9541.5. Per online listings, the 9540.0 station this hour would be CRI Kunming in Chinese (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN [non]. REE via Costa Rica, 15170, Tue Mar 10 at 1349 in Castilian substituting for real Basque, except for standard closing of 5-minute segment rendered axually in Basque, and 1350 into Catalan, for which there is no substitute. Way over the European RRI co-channel this date (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SUDAN [and non]. I happened to tune across 17790, best signal on 16m, Monday March 9 at 1818, which was RCI Sackville within The Link, interviewing someone from Miraya FM in Sudan, for 9 minutes; crummy quality line, apparently VOIP. He said the station is on FM in the south, has a permit to broadcast in the north, but no frequency assigned yet and that may take another year. Also on SW to the Darfur area 3 hours per day, plans to increase to 6 this year. There is also another unspecified Darfur project.
Is the station endangered, like other NGOs, following the indictment of Bashir? No indication of that so far, he says, despite having reported the event live. Things are ``really calm``, no problem. Gave website where people may listen to the station, but despite having mentioned Miraya`s SW service, this shortwave station gave no details! We know it`s 15-18 UT on 15650 via Slovakia, and hear it here better now that Greece has crashed. Then I went back and found the program on the RCI website:
http://www.rciviva.ca/rci/en/emissions/archives/archivesDetails_1952_09032009.shtml
``CANADIAN HELPS BRING RELIABLE NEWS TO SUDANESE: The Fondation Hirondelle is a Swiss NGO that establishes and manages independent media - mainly radio stations - in countries that are in conflict or post-conflict situations. In Sudan, working in partnership with the United Nations, the Fondation Hirondelle has set up Miraya FM and they've brought in a Canadian to run it. Marc Montgomery speaks with Jean-Claude Labrecque, former Radio Canada journalist and now head of Media and Editor-in-Chief at Miraya FM.``
There are audio linx. This part starts 13:14 into the second hour and I assume will be available indefinitely. BTW, no sign of RCI on 11805 which had been in use temporarily for the 18 UT transmission to Africa, but otherwise well audible here off the back on several frequencies (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TUNISIA. RTT, 7275 and 7190 both in open carrier at 0555 March 20, both supposed to be underway much earlier. At 0601 recheck both modulating Arabic, with 7275 slightly stronger. 7190 is doomed in A-09, moving to 7335 for the morning broadcast (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U K. BBCWS, 5875, end of English newscast at 0605 March 10, with background noise level ramping up at each pause, as if a limiter is very maladjusted. Have not noticed such a problem at BBC before, originating in studio, or processing at Rampisham? The noise vanished at 0606 as next program started, but then reappeared, an annoying roar every few sex (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. VOA continues to consider shortwave not even worth mentioning as one of its ``platforms`` --- On VG 15590, March 10 at 1359 wrapping up Éxitos Latinoamericanos music show ``vía satélite e internet``; 1359:30 cut the music, start standard VOA sign-off in English, but cut carrier after only a few words of that. In only one minute one observed a gross lack of coördination in multiple ways (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WRMI, 9955, with R. Prague, March 9 at 1410 talk about ancient bridges over the Vltava; 1415 or so, Magic Carpet music show. Useless dentroCuban jamming continued, but WRMI on top. Running early, 1424 going to irrelevant R. Prague French transmission schedule, 1426 program promos for World Baseball Today (tnx for mentioning WOR therein) and something else; 1427 starting Frecuencia al Día three minutes early; and still jammed at 1441 final check. Strangely enough, RHC`s DX programs in English and Spanish do not get jammed and thus enjoy an unfair advantage.
Rechecking 9955 March 9 at 2122, nothing but heavy jamming was audible, the DentroCuban Jamming Command apparently assuming WRMI was on the air with Radio República, which for a few months had started at 2200, and might now with DST start at 2100, except it was cancelled on 9955 at the end of February! WRMI is presumably filling the time with more innocuous English broadcasts from World Radio Network, between 17 and 01 UT weekdays, but WRMI`s online schedule has not been updated since January, so, aside from further changes not yet appearing, one must treat the Eastern times shown as EDT (UT -4) now rather than EST (UT -5).
Another check of 9955 the next morning, March 10 at 1422, Prague relay again with VG and steady S9+20 signal way over still-present jamming, discussing new press law. Wish WRMI were this well-heard all the time
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [and non]. WBCQ still has a collision problem on 15420, should one wish to listen to the anapaestic Fence Lake preacher between 17 and 19 UT, when BBCWS is also on 15420, 250 kW at 5 degrees via South Africa. Here in OK, March 9 at 1815, found a bad mix but BBC somewhat stronger, and a lo het from slightly off-frequency `BCQ (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
