** CHINA [and non]. No stand-alone Firedrake heard on usual frequencies Aug 16 around 1230. But at 1238 did hear it on 12040 mixing with CNR1 jamming and VOA target; and on 11710 // CNR1 jamming mixing with N Korean music, Commies vs Commies! But really targeting Taiwan, also producing subaudible heterodynes (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** JAPAN [and non]. NHKWNRJ must be in August-vacation mode, with canned repeat programming instead of new shows. World Interactive should be the Sunday feature, but Aug 16 at 1226 on 9695 ending dramatic narrative with music, sound effects, extremely emotional story about a girl and her mother getting (atomic?) bombed in August, outro title as ``Face of Gizo (sp?)`` part 1, to be continued next week with part 2. Reception on 9695 intended for Asia was axually better than on // 6120 via Canada to NAm. 1229 sign-off as usual mentioned frequency only for the next English transmission, at 1310. In NAm it would have been more helpful to mention frequency for next transmission to here at 1400 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN [non]. 11910, REE with Castilian news at 1233 Aug 16, good signal and modulation punch you do not get from Costa Rica, or even from Noblejas. This is the relay via Xi`an, CHINA, at 12-14, 120 kW, 138 degrees, so aimed nowhere near USward and not often heard. Roughly one second behind Cariari on 15170. Recheck at 1251 found 11910 still audible but underneath WYFR open carrier prior to its *1300. This week`s Amigos de la Onda Corta DX program from REE discussed the relay exchange, pointing out that they have two alternative feed routes to Beijing, one via satellite, the other some complicated landline setup (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U K [non]. 9605, surprised to hear BBCWS in English, not scheduled here, Aug 16 at 1257 with sports news, 1258 promos, 1259 theme, 1300 timesignal mixing with others, opening in Chinese. Singapore must have turned on not only transmitter but wrong modulation early. After 1300 of course CNR1 jamming also on 9605 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. We still have no idea of the exact hours Brother Scare is now on WWCR-2 instead of DGS/PMS, but not only on 13845: Aug 16 at 1210 check, 5935 was still on the air and broadcasting BS. Scheduled switchover time to 13845 is 1200, so maybe this was an error.
WWCR has announced from Aug 17 it will shift from 15825 to 15830 to see if that gets rid of the `squeal` I have occasionally reported. But I think it comes out of the transmitter, as it is only heard when WWCR is extremely strong, rather than heterodyne from another emission. Aug 16 already at 1245, 15825 was very strong with sporadic-E boost, starting ``Sold Out for Jesus``. I could not hear a squeal this time, tho there was a bit of a `frying` sound underneath. Note that 15830 will presumably be in use for WORLD OF RADIO Fridays at 2028 until further notice (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. The spurs from WTJC 9370v moved in a bit from 30 kHz separation: Aug 16 at 1303, distorted spurs around 9345 and 9395 matching fundamental musical modulation, not as strong as before, but neither was 9370. The higher one`s spread was bothering another gospel huxter on 9400, worse when WTJC became screaming preacher at 1316 check. 9400 victim scheduled as FEBC Manila in Chinese at 09-14, Christians vs Christians! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** VENEZUELA [non]. Sunday Aug 16 chex for ``Aló, Presidente`` via CUBA: at 1413, open carriers on 13750 and 17750, two of the scheduled frequencies, but nothing on the other three, 11690, 12010, 13680. At 1429 found that 13750 was off but 17750 still on with OC, same at 1436. Tired of listening to nothing, did not recheck until 1530 when modulation had started on 17750. Sounded like Chávez so assumed A,P had started, but it was only a clip in news, from RNV? 13750 still off, no 12010 or 13680 either, but barely audible on 11690 which is always weakest here. Meanwhile, separate secret RHC midday programming continued on 13760.
Next check at 1641 found A,P really underway with Hugo and the audience, on 17750 and by now 13750 had come back on the air, as well as 12010 finally, and 11690 audible, still no 13680. Separate RHC still going on 11760. One more check at 1732: A,P VG on 17750, 13750, 12010; 11690 mostly RTTY but Hugo faded up long enough to reconfirm it to; and 11760 still separate RHC (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. Lots of presumed Chinese OTH radar segments as I bandscanned August 16. First at 1210 ranged (approx. in all cases) 5860-5880, with BBCWS English bothered amid on 5875, but the pulses went off at 1211; then found they had shifted down to 5780-5855. In next few minutes also found similar sounds: 6540-6590, 6830-6880, 6950-6995 – careful to stay below 7000? And at 1215, 7575-7630 bothering VOA on 7575. These average 50 kHz in bandwidth. The 5860-5880 one may have extended beyond 5900 but obscured by broadcast signals. Due to their behavior, I am pretty sure these are transmitted from overseas, but I do have plenty of local QRM-producers, so it would be nice if others tried to log these, mostly out-of-band in the 5-8 MHz frequency range. If they are from China, bound to be much stronger in E Asia, W N America (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
** JAPAN [and non]. NHKWNRJ must be in August-vacation mode, with canned repeat programming instead of new shows. World Interactive should be the Sunday feature, but Aug 16 at 1226 on 9695 ending dramatic narrative with music, sound effects, extremely emotional story about a girl and her mother getting (atomic?) bombed in August, outro title as ``Face of Gizo (sp?)`` part 1, to be continued next week with part 2. Reception on 9695 intended for Asia was axually better than on // 6120 via Canada to NAm. 1229 sign-off as usual mentioned frequency only for the next English transmission, at 1310. In NAm it would have been more helpful to mention frequency for next transmission to here at 1400 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN [non]. 11910, REE with Castilian news at 1233 Aug 16, good signal and modulation punch you do not get from Costa Rica, or even from Noblejas. This is the relay via Xi`an, CHINA, at 12-14, 120 kW, 138 degrees, so aimed nowhere near USward and not often heard. Roughly one second behind Cariari on 15170. Recheck at 1251 found 11910 still audible but underneath WYFR open carrier prior to its *1300. This week`s Amigos de la Onda Corta DX program from REE discussed the relay exchange, pointing out that they have two alternative feed routes to Beijing, one via satellite, the other some complicated landline setup (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U K [non]. 9605, surprised to hear BBCWS in English, not scheduled here, Aug 16 at 1257 with sports news, 1258 promos, 1259 theme, 1300 timesignal mixing with others, opening in Chinese. Singapore must have turned on not only transmitter but wrong modulation early. After 1300 of course CNR1 jamming also on 9605 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. We still have no idea of the exact hours Brother Scare is now on WWCR-2 instead of DGS/PMS, but not only on 13845: Aug 16 at 1210 check, 5935 was still on the air and broadcasting BS. Scheduled switchover time to 13845 is 1200, so maybe this was an error.
WWCR has announced from Aug 17 it will shift from 15825 to 15830 to see if that gets rid of the `squeal` I have occasionally reported. But I think it comes out of the transmitter, as it is only heard when WWCR is extremely strong, rather than heterodyne from another emission. Aug 16 already at 1245, 15825 was very strong with sporadic-E boost, starting ``Sold Out for Jesus``. I could not hear a squeal this time, tho there was a bit of a `frying` sound underneath. Note that 15830 will presumably be in use for WORLD OF RADIO Fridays at 2028 until further notice (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. The spurs from WTJC 9370v moved in a bit from 30 kHz separation: Aug 16 at 1303, distorted spurs around 9345 and 9395 matching fundamental musical modulation, not as strong as before, but neither was 9370. The higher one`s spread was bothering another gospel huxter on 9400, worse when WTJC became screaming preacher at 1316 check. 9400 victim scheduled as FEBC Manila in Chinese at 09-14, Christians vs Christians! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** VENEZUELA [non]. Sunday Aug 16 chex for ``Aló, Presidente`` via CUBA: at 1413, open carriers on 13750 and 17750, two of the scheduled frequencies, but nothing on the other three, 11690, 12010, 13680. At 1429 found that 13750 was off but 17750 still on with OC, same at 1436. Tired of listening to nothing, did not recheck until 1530 when modulation had started on 17750. Sounded like Chávez so assumed A,P had started, but it was only a clip in news, from RNV? 13750 still off, no 12010 or 13680 either, but barely audible on 11690 which is always weakest here. Meanwhile, separate secret RHC midday programming continued on 13760.
Next check at 1641 found A,P really underway with Hugo and the audience, on 17750 and by now 13750 had come back on the air, as well as 12010 finally, and 11690 audible, still no 13680. Separate RHC still going on 11760. One more check at 1732: A,P VG on 17750, 13750, 12010; 11690 mostly RTTY but Hugo faded up long enough to reconfirm it to; and 11760 still separate RHC (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. Lots of presumed Chinese OTH radar segments as I bandscanned August 16. First at 1210 ranged (approx. in all cases) 5860-5880, with BBCWS English bothered amid on 5875, but the pulses went off at 1211; then found they had shifted down to 5780-5855. In next few minutes also found similar sounds: 6540-6590, 6830-6880, 6950-6995 – careful to stay below 7000? And at 1215, 7575-7630 bothering VOA on 7575. These average 50 kHz in bandwidth. The 5860-5880 one may have extended beyond 5900 but obscured by broadcast signals. Due to their behavior, I am pretty sure these are transmitted from overseas, but I do have plenty of local QRM-producers, so it would be nice if others tried to log these, mostly out-of-band in the 5-8 MHz frequency range. If they are from China, bound to be much stronger in E Asia, W N America (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
