sabato 11 luglio 2009

Glenn Hauser logs July 10-11, 2009

** BIAFRA [non]. V. of Biafra International, Fridays 1900-2000 via WHRI had been on 17520 reliably since April, so did not even reconfirm it last week, but July 10 it was missing! Axually, I see the last time I bothered to log it on 17520 was June 5, but I think I had still noticed it there a week or three later. Now soon found at 1930 on 15665 instead, a previously used/scheduled channel, in Ibo at the moment with English words mixed in such as ``self-determination``, apparently a non-native concept to the Biafrans. 1933 back into full English exhortations. Has their website http://www.biafraland.com/vobi.htm been updated to reflect this? Of course not! Still shows long-abandoned 15280 and an hour later than reality.

Yet that pages linx to last four broadcasts playing immediately by clipstream, including July 10. Monitored the opening for any possible frequency announcement: none at the start, none after ``Finlandia``, none after ``All Hail Biafra`` before ``let us pray`` either, which went immediately into a song instead. Nor after that before the news against the awful Nigerians. And still no frequency mentioned in the ID after that (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHINA. Firedrake survey July 11: at 1326, poor on 8400 and not // fair 9000. At 1343, poor on 13970, very poor on 14430. At 1350, poor on 15600. At 1354, fair on 17500 // 13970. Nothing on 18320. At 1406, very poor on 15150. 1407 still on 15600 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CUBA. RHC July 11: at 1343, 13780 and consequently leapfrog on 13880 back on the air unlike yesterday. 11800 also on with usual heavy distortion. 1432 listening to 11760 with Cancionero Iberoamericano, starting with a Guatemalan group with a Quechua name (? That`s what she said; maybe meant Quiché or Kekchí?). Recheck at 1502 to verify which frequencies remain in use for additional midday broadcast about Honduras: no 12000; 11800 off, for the moment? But 11760, 13760, 5965 and 6000 still audible (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** LAOS [non]. 11785, WHRI, Saturday July 11 after Hmong Lao Radio hour, additional semihour, Hmong World Christian Radio, but it plays exactly the same music and doesn`t sound that religious; at 1425 with long list of businesses in St. Paul, Hminnesota area, presumably sponsors, or just Hmong-owned ones. Noticed a lite SAH of about 2 Hz despite very strong signal from SC.

1429:30 cut to WHR in English plugging its webcasts, including from `KWHR`, a neat trick since that station no longer exists on SW, abolished almost a year ago. 1430 into Call to Worship, from Zion Chapel of Holland (Michigan?); still on with more religion past 1500 unlike weekdays (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** OKLAHOMA. 27185, local yokel no doubt in Enid with non-skip strong signal playing lo-fi country music, blocking the CB calling channel, July 11 at 1400. Another time there was ear-splitting wideband tone jamming the frequency. People sure know how to have fun on CB!

Then at 1403 came upon an SSB contact on 27435. Unlike most CBers, not in love with their own voices with reverb, etc., but normal tones, QSO between Tom and someone discussing breakfast in standard English. Could have passed for real hams, except no IDs heard until 1404* Suspect local as skip was not in e.g. on WWCR 15825, CB channels were not multi-deep hetbuckets (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** RUSSIA. 12000, VOR Khabarovsk, July 11 at 1337 from song to Chinese announcement amid motorboating steadily worsening from day to day. Is anyone paying attention at the transmitter or Moscow HQ? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SAUDI ARABIA. Saut ul-Buzz, 15435 already on the air at 1457 July 11, eventually some Arabic talk audible beneath it. BSKSA management must be totally oblivious and/or shameless to allow this to go on for so long; not to mention totally incompetent on the engineering side (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. Surprised to find VG signal on 15675 with jazz, Saturday July 11 at 1351, soon confirmed as VOA // 9760 PHILIPPINES, and running about 4 words behind 9760 during announcement which soon followed, as having been Christian McBride; then Ed Palermo Big Band playing music of Frank Zappa (try Googling that), on Jazz America from VOA Music Mix. 1400 directly into VOA news with Gloria Gibson about Ghana, but vanished at 1402; how rude. 15675 must be Greenville testing, currently really scheduled weekends only at 17-18 in English. And confirmed at 1703 check in news (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. WYFR, 9680, July 11 at 0547 as I tuned across mentioned matter-of-factly that 2011 would be the last year the world exists, someone else quoting Harold Camping with backup from the non-Mayan Christian Bible. Does it really say 2012* is the end? So much for that. Hey, might as well give FR most of your money now for more and more droning relays, since you won`t be needing it much longer. Until then, will keep SW relay brokers in the pink while further driving away listenership (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. WRMI, 9955 with DX Partyline starting Saturday July 11 at 1500, with heavy DentroCuban jamming still running. This is an unscheduled time for DXPL, per
http://www.wrmi.net/program.php?id=94 effective March 14 and probably due for a revamp. I should have checked after 1530 for WORLD OF RADIO which also shows there (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 9300.0, 2-way Spanish SSB at 1334 July 11. One of them has enough background noise (engine?) to keep the vox on during pauses, mentioned temp 38 degrees, and I think I heard a ``puta madre`` go by, typical discussion of genealogy by poachers or narcotraficantes (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 11776, weak unstable carrier hetting PMS Anguilla 11775, July 11 at 1340, not noticed before. Could not find a match in the area; has that `North Korean sound`, but could also be parasitic from WHRI 11785 on the air weekends only. Hoped to catch it vanish when WHRI signed off, but that kept going past 1430 and 1500 with gospel huxters in English, as 11776 had weakened to inaudibility (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 15450, July 11 at 1346 poor signal with talk in unID language, Asian? Could Turkey be on late by mistake past 1320? No, only thing that fits is BBC Bengali via ``Armavir``, RUSSIA, per WRTH A-09 update, scheduled 1330-1500 Saturdays only, which would explain why I haven`t noticed it before. This language service recently shifted some times and frequencies earlier due to timezone change in Bangladesh to UT+7, but this transmission was not mentioned, so maybe stayed same (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###