martedì 23 giugno 2009

Glenn Hauser logs June 22-23, 2009

** CHINA. Firedrake check June 22: 1224 at `ramshorn` plus drumming segment, fair on 8400 // 9000. As bandscanned upward, did not come to another one until 1243 on 14420, very poor and nothing on 13970. Then another surprise at 1246: very poor on new 17470, // 9000. Nothing much on 16m, no Spain on 17595, Chile VP on 17680, only WYFR G on 17795. Why 17470? Presumably latest plop of Sound of Hope. June 21 edition of Aoki does not have it, but on 17500 24 hours, jammed. Nor does the June 23 show 17470, not having seen my log yet?

Distorted YL Chinese talk at modulation spikes ranging roughly 12060-12110 and peaking 12085, June 22 at 1238. Matches modulation on CNR1 jammer 12040. Not sure if these are spurs of that, or a malfunxioning transmitter intentionally on 12085 vicinity, but not accounted for in Aoki --- except R. Free Chosun in Korean via Uzbekistan is on 12085 at 1230-1300, so this ChiCom signal handily jams that, by chance?

June 23, hi noise level from storms below 10 MHz, and from line above 10 MHz, not much of interest to log except Firedrake, and harmonix, bandscanned 8-19 MHz:

At 1317, 14420 FD very good only here; // 9000 JBA, nothing on 8400.
At 1321, 15150 FD different not // 14420, poor with CCI, SAH. Nothing on 15600 or 17470 as yesterday.
At 1323, 18320 just barely audible, // 14420 `ramshorn` passage.
At 1400, 14420 goes to open carrier, presumably only 5 minutes
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MEXICO. Now that KFOR OKC is gone from channel 4, and other lowband TV nearby too, except for nightlighting KOCO-5, most TV on channels 2-4 and 6 is DX! And lots of sporadic E lately. The antenna aimed toward OKC favors Mexico, and we hope, further away.

June 22 at 1644 UT on channel 2, saw numbers 8311 8038 and Basim. Not positive of the numbers, which Googled leads to a UK phone, and Basim could be an Arabic musical artist meaning Smiling. Lots of QRM in Spanish. Also pileup on channel 3.

At 1700 on channel 4, with 5 bug in upper right, Top Cat cartoon in color, dubbed in Spanish. Top Cat is the one who wears a hat, ears sticking thru it. Per TV Guide online listings, which apparently in Mexico cover cable only, so the DF channel numbers don`t correspond to air channels --- but they don`t either elsewhere in the country, this matches XHGC-5 net programming, Don Gato y su Pandilla, M-F(?) 1500-1700 UT, so running a bit late.

1708, still XHGC-5 net on channel 4. Could be XHCOV Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, but there are a bunch of other full-power possibilities around the country.

1709 on 4, Canal de las Estrellas promo, then Looney Tune, Kit for Kat, featuring Sylvester and Elmer Fudd, dubbed. This matches XHGC-5 net programming for noon local, Bugs Bunny y Sus Amigos. Canal de las Estrellas refers to net-2, so probably cross-promotion on another Televisa network, but could have been a crossfade to an axual XEW-2 relay.

At 1707 MUF up to channel 6, mostly not hitting color burst or audio, variety show in Spanish, think I heard Veracruz mentioned. Bug in upper right looked like VE, which I would like to have thought led to Venezuela instead! Not sure of the V as the lines sometimes looked more vertical, HE? When reception was best I could tell there was a word underneath the logo, call letters or location? But too tiny to outmake. At 1708 this was faded out from the picture, and the whole signal shortly thereafter.

WPBT-2 Miami was also in on this opening; see USA.

June 23 morning: more Es, besides WWRB 18770 harmonic on SW, it was over to TV from 1402 UT: CCI in Spanish on 2, Looney Tunes in Spanish on 4; 1404 channel 4 transferred to something else briefly, a live YL in a garden, Spanish talking about exercise, naming animals, apparently for kids; 1407 fade back to the cartoons from net-5.

At 1422 on 4 with cartoons, large clear ID in upper right, white over black background for XHMEN-TV, i.e. Mérida, Yucatán, XHGC-5 network.

Top Cat also seen on channel 3 at 1552, 1638 and 1700. Unlike channel 4, there is only one full-power XHGC-5 relay on channel 3, XHBQ in Zacatecas, per
http://www.w9wi.com/channels/3.html

If you do see cartoons in the daytime, even if analog still existed, chances are it`s not USA, where commercial OTA stations now run talkshows or soaps, leaving animation to cable. Those lucky Mexikids with rabbit ears --- two hours a day of Top Cat! I hope he justly represents North American Values.

At 1724 a cooking show appeared briefly on channel 4. Per TV Guide listings that would be the XEIPN-11 non-commercial network, so where is it relayed on 4? Per W9WI list, change URL above to 4, there is only one, 5.780 being the rather low kW power:
San Luis Potosi XHSLP-TV 5.780, +H 22-9-10.00N 100-58-37.00W Once-TV

The opening was still going past 1800 UT, but most of the time it`s just a jumble of many stations at once on channels 2, 3 and 4, one of them occasionally surfacing to dominate briefly. Some might find this frustrating, but it demonstrates the dynamism of the analog medium combined with sporadic E, unlike digital. Sometimes there was lite CCI on KOCO-5, and occasional signs of something on 6. The higher channels are likely to be more focused on one station at once, if the MUF coöperate. The opening probably extends into the FM band, but I`m too busy to go after that too (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** RUSSIA [and non]. 12000 with big collision of VOR Chinese and RHC Spanish, June 22 at 1234. When I tuned in, VOR was atop, but RHC soon took over for a bit, SAH of 160/minute between them. Commies vs ex-Commies! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** TAIWAN. RTI, 9735, Japanese service, again producing spurs on adjacents, June 21 at 1329 check, buzzy hets varying slightly on CRI 9730 and BBC 9740. Other days, no such problem (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. Another big sporadic E opening the morning of June 23, evidenced by inbooming WWCR on 13845 and 15825 at 1354, so check 18770 for WWRB 2 x 9385, and there is Brother Scare peaking S9.

In next few minutes, looked for other WWRB and WWCR harmonix, 19960, 27690, 28135, but nothing audible. At 1358, 27 MHz CB + freebanders were rife, but nary a 10m phone ham to be heard above 28 MHz. WWV inbooming on 20000, but no KOA on 25950. Then I switched to TV; see MEXICO (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. Lots of sporadic E on lowband TV, and now it`s mostly in Spanish --- but that doesn`t necessarily mean non-USA. The NAB Nightlight DTV primer is bilingual all over the country, so if you hear a bit of Spanish, you have to be sure it`s not that. There are 13 US channel 2 analog stations still running this, per
http://www.dxfm.com/Database/TV%20NIGHTLIGHT.xls
some, but not all until July 12; notably KTUU in Anchorage AK, and those needing Alaska by double hop should frequently aim their antennas that way!

At the opposite corner of the country, WPBT channel 2, Miami FL, is still on the air with NL, and fortunately shows their ID and 2 logo in center screen frequently, such as June 22 at 1700, 1719 UT, mixing with Mexico. Over the years, WPBT has been seen here countless times at 1270 miles. Once it is off July 12, a major obstacle to real multi-hop TVDX from Latin America will be removed. It`s also an obstacle to Mexico DX, as despite the divergent direxions from here, Es openings often bring in both at same time (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)