** ANGUILLA. Caribbean Beacon silent again on 6090, Sept 20 at 0558, but maybe not for a week this time, as DGS was back on 11775 at 1300 check, never with any local ID at hourtop or anywhen (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ARGENTINA. As an example of how feeble the ``100 kW`` transmitter at General Pacheco is, Sept 20 at 0152 I noticed a het registering about S6 on 11711v, obviously R. Nacional, but no audio readable. Meanwhile, the following other SAm signals were inbooming on the same band: 11780 Brasil S9+18, 11920 HCJB S9+18, 11665 CVC S9+12; from closer in LAm, RHC 11760 & 11690 S9+20. And per Aoki, 11711 is even supposed to be aimed usward at 335 degrees (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CANADA. Interesting to compare signals from Toronto and Sackville only 25 kHz apart, and CFRX wins! Sept 20 at 0605, CFRX 6070 had louder modulation and at least equal signal to KBSWR in Spanish on 6045. CFRX runs 1 kW non-direxional(?), and RCI has 250 kW at 60 degrees to Europe, but normally VG here. Of course, Toronto is considably closer. CFRX had been missing about 24 hours earlier. It was also still on around 1230 check (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake Sept 20 at 1245, poor on 8400 and 9000 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA [non]. Not only does the CRI relay via CUBA on 9570 in the mornings hash neighboring Australian frequencies 9560 and 9580, but exactly the same kind of noise accompanies no doubt the same dirty transmitter in the evenings when it is on 9580: Sept 20 at 0205 the hash could be heard around 9570 and 9590. In fact, I was not hearing the CRI relay via Albania on 9570 at all, so it`s ChiComs vs ChiComs! Both 9570 and 9580 are in use 0100-0300. Serves the damn jammers right (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also SPAIN
** CUBA. RHC, UT Sunday Sept 20 at 0558: DXers Unlimited had Arnie Coro with studio-quality audio on his voice for a change! He had previously claimed that he always did it from the studio rather than phoning it in from home, and the degraded audio only on his voice was intentional filtering to make it more intelligible over SW transmission. We found this strange, as none of the other RHC announcers were so lucky.
Show was running late, at 0559 Item 4: Ask Arnie in which he gave a superficial explanation of why RHC streamed audio runs behind SW audio on 11770 as monitored in Italy; and propagation, saying that we need solar flux of 80 or 90 to perk up the bands in the daytime. Who can remember when it was typically that high? Sigh.
As to frequency usage, it was once again jumbled. I first tuned in to 6140, which was in English this time, but 6060 absent, and English also on 6010. 6120 and much weaker 6000 were in Spanish. At recheck 0604, 6060 was back on as an additional English channel.
Sept 20 at 1450 on 13780 announcer was mentioning a special event at 2 pm [1800 UT], on TV and satellite, no doubt the big concert for peace in Habana, but if also on SW, I was too late to catch details of that. Any Esperanto this week? No, that minority language continues to be even more expendable than Guarani or English, as 11760 was still in RHC Spanish at 1502 and 1522, now in the secret midday SW service // weak 13760, and 13780 was still on with big open carrier. At 1539, 11760 still modulating // ever-distorted 11800 but 13760 was OC, and // 11690 JBA under RTTY an echo apart from 11760. By 1548, 11690 had switched to Aló, Presidente from VENEZUELA, q.v. for more about that. At 1551, 13760 was modulating RHC again // 11760 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also CHINA [non]
** EGYPT. R. Cairo, 7540, with 100% readable signal!!! UT Sunday Sept 20 at 0220, American-accented YL with news of Africa, good modulation. RC`s newscasts start at :15 past the hour, when else? 0223 ID in passing, repeating headlines, mentioned it was the ``west coast service`` on 7535.
The 0200-0330 broadcast may be a `west coast service` in the sense that it is at a more convenient prime time in PDT, 7-8:30 pm and is he second of two English sesquihours to NAm, after 2300-2430 on 11590, but the 11590 is really the one aimed at the WC, 330 degrees, while 7540 is aimed at the east coast, 315 degrees. Furthermore, 11590 is for CIRAF targets 6 and 7, i.e. W and C USA, while 7260 is at 7-9, i.e. C & E USA plus Maritime Provinces. Either the listings or the transmissions are reversed, opposite of what they ought to be!
And she still hasn`t heard about the shift to 7540 made months ago to avoid Romania on 7535 before 0200! She spoke quite informally, asking for reports evaluating whether listeners could barely hear her or not. Also now is the time to make suggestions about new program subjects, as changes are made in December (not January?) and July.
Address given as P O Box 550, Cairo, and `zip code 11511`. Another hint that she is an American, as the term ZIP code properly applies only to American postal codes, originally standing for Zone Improvement Program. Need to recheck the box announcement as PWBR `2009` mentions two others, and WRTH mentions one other, but they agree on the postal code. Careful to write EGYPT in large letters, as otherwise your p-mail may wind up in the DLO on Long Island, where it is apparently not a valid US ZIP code.
0225 on to press review, 0231 YL pop music singer in Arabic, 0239 another talk feature. Reception weakened somewhat and next program at 0301 was ``--- in Egypt``. Meanwhile, Arabic service on 6290 remained stronger but as usual, heavily distorted, not assisted by the speaker yelling at 0234 check (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA [and non]. 9680 with Qur`an, Sept 20 at 1250 mixing at 4 Hz SAH with something in Chinese. Per listings, must presume Qur`an station is RRI domestic service relay, versus the PRC/ROC radio war, with RTI attracting mandatory CNR1 ChiCom jamming. RRI obstinately insists on staying on that ruined frequency. Meanwhile, could not detect even a carrier on 9525v at 1316 when the VOI English service should have been airing (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** IRAN. 15200, Sept 20 at 1327 piano music, whence? 1330 two or three chimes and announcement definitely in Japanese, choral anthem, somewhat distorted, but abruptly off at 1332* in mid-announcement. WRTH A09 update has the answer: VOIRI, Sirjan site which is scheduled in Indonesian until 1330, then supposed to switch to 15555 for Japanese, and where I might have heard them from 1332 if propagating. Just another instance of the Iranians unable to coordinate program and transmitter switching properly. Aoki, however, claims the 1230-1327 on 15200 is in Malaysian, meaning Malay? which is extremely similar to Indonesian (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KOREA SOUTH [non]. 9560, UT Sun Sept 20 at 0206-0210 surprised to hear the AER DX report voiced by Pedro Sedano, with news about HCJB`s imminent closure, R. Discovery having been on 4730 but no mention of next frequency 4780; RNV`s new SW site in Guaríco state, instead of Guárico, item about LRA36. This was a segment in KBSWR`s half-hour Spanish broadcast via Sackville. VG signal here, per Aoki at 277 degrees, i.e. somewhat north of due west. It might be more useful to aim it toward CAm, at most azimuthwise, Mexico, or is it for all the Latinos residing in California right in the boresight? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** PORTUGAL. 15560, RDPI opening Abraço da Madeira show, Sun Sept 20 at 1311 with VG signal; upbeat announcer said it was from Funchal studio. Every little island should be so lucky as Madeira to have a weekly two-hour worldwide SW contact show courtesy of the mother country. But is there an equivalent from the Açores? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. 17485, Sunday Sept 20 at 1457 DTK already on with Brother Scare, good clear modulation, better than he deserves or gets from WWRB. This not supposed to start until 1500, but I expect the stereotypically precise German operators at Jülich are demoralized, knowing their jobs will last only another month; so why not burn up a little extra transmitter time for the Last Days Prophet of God? Signal remained good at spot chex during following hour tho aimed oppositely at 160 degrees (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN. 9690, Sept 20 at 0156 surprised to hear the REE IS where there is no REE transmission scheduled; but it was just an admission that Noblejas was about to relay CRI, as there followed a decent interval of silence at 0158, then 0200 CRI IS and sign-on in Chinese (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. No doubt it varies, but checking WRMI evenings to note when 9955 fades out: UT Sept 20 it was good during an English religionist between 0130 and 0145, but gone at next check shortly after 0200. These are both scheduled on the SSE antenna UT Sundays.
Surprised to hear an old WORLD OF RADIO, 1465 from a quarteryear ago, concluding at 1542 Sunday Sept 20 on WRMI 9955, instead of current 1478. Jeff White says it was glitch in the automation and should not happen again (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** VENEZUELA [non]. After last Sunday`s fake-out, I paid closer attention to Aló, Presidente frequencies via Cuba on Sept 20. No sign of them at 1423, altho RHC 13680, normally running until 1500, was absent as if the transmitter were being moved to an A,P channel. Mainly monitored 13750 which is the major A,P channel here and not used otherwise by Cuba. Finally at 1546 found a big carrier cutting on and off, 1547 joining Hugo in progress, but still going off and on at 1548. Meanwhile, 13680 now on weakly with // Hugo. Could also make him out on 11690, almost // an echo apart from 13750, but not on the other nominal channels 12010 and 17750. So it appears that the DentroCubans are no longer providing their own sesquihour prolog from 1400, but just turning on some transmitters whenever they get around to it.
Did not check again until 1928, and found a different situation with Hugo still blathering against capitalism on these frequencies from best to worst: 12010, 17750, 11690, JBA 13680 but 13750 off the air. See CUBA for more observations during this period (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 9600.4, again hearing that intriguing het, possibly XEYU trying to operate with peanutpower, Sept 20 at 0612 against 9600.0 station in French, i.e. Radio Bulgaria. At this time little else was audible on 31m, the best being a weakish WYFR on 9680 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
** ARGENTINA. As an example of how feeble the ``100 kW`` transmitter at General Pacheco is, Sept 20 at 0152 I noticed a het registering about S6 on 11711v, obviously R. Nacional, but no audio readable. Meanwhile, the following other SAm signals were inbooming on the same band: 11780 Brasil S9+18, 11920 HCJB S9+18, 11665 CVC S9+12; from closer in LAm, RHC 11760 & 11690 S9+20. And per Aoki, 11711 is even supposed to be aimed usward at 335 degrees (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CANADA. Interesting to compare signals from Toronto and Sackville only 25 kHz apart, and CFRX wins! Sept 20 at 0605, CFRX 6070 had louder modulation and at least equal signal to KBSWR in Spanish on 6045. CFRX runs 1 kW non-direxional(?), and RCI has 250 kW at 60 degrees to Europe, but normally VG here. Of course, Toronto is considably closer. CFRX had been missing about 24 hours earlier. It was also still on around 1230 check (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake Sept 20 at 1245, poor on 8400 and 9000 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA [non]. Not only does the CRI relay via CUBA on 9570 in the mornings hash neighboring Australian frequencies 9560 and 9580, but exactly the same kind of noise accompanies no doubt the same dirty transmitter in the evenings when it is on 9580: Sept 20 at 0205 the hash could be heard around 9570 and 9590. In fact, I was not hearing the CRI relay via Albania on 9570 at all, so it`s ChiComs vs ChiComs! Both 9570 and 9580 are in use 0100-0300. Serves the damn jammers right (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also SPAIN
** CUBA. RHC, UT Sunday Sept 20 at 0558: DXers Unlimited had Arnie Coro with studio-quality audio on his voice for a change! He had previously claimed that he always did it from the studio rather than phoning it in from home, and the degraded audio only on his voice was intentional filtering to make it more intelligible over SW transmission. We found this strange, as none of the other RHC announcers were so lucky.
Show was running late, at 0559 Item 4: Ask Arnie in which he gave a superficial explanation of why RHC streamed audio runs behind SW audio on 11770 as monitored in Italy; and propagation, saying that we need solar flux of 80 or 90 to perk up the bands in the daytime. Who can remember when it was typically that high? Sigh.
As to frequency usage, it was once again jumbled. I first tuned in to 6140, which was in English this time, but 6060 absent, and English also on 6010. 6120 and much weaker 6000 were in Spanish. At recheck 0604, 6060 was back on as an additional English channel.
Sept 20 at 1450 on 13780 announcer was mentioning a special event at 2 pm [1800 UT], on TV and satellite, no doubt the big concert for peace in Habana, but if also on SW, I was too late to catch details of that. Any Esperanto this week? No, that minority language continues to be even more expendable than Guarani or English, as 11760 was still in RHC Spanish at 1502 and 1522, now in the secret midday SW service // weak 13760, and 13780 was still on with big open carrier. At 1539, 11760 still modulating // ever-distorted 11800 but 13760 was OC, and // 11690 JBA under RTTY an echo apart from 11760. By 1548, 11690 had switched to Aló, Presidente from VENEZUELA, q.v. for more about that. At 1551, 13760 was modulating RHC again // 11760 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also CHINA [non]
** EGYPT. R. Cairo, 7540, with 100% readable signal!!! UT Sunday Sept 20 at 0220, American-accented YL with news of Africa, good modulation. RC`s newscasts start at :15 past the hour, when else? 0223 ID in passing, repeating headlines, mentioned it was the ``west coast service`` on 7535.
The 0200-0330 broadcast may be a `west coast service` in the sense that it is at a more convenient prime time in PDT, 7-8:30 pm and is he second of two English sesquihours to NAm, after 2300-2430 on 11590, but the 11590 is really the one aimed at the WC, 330 degrees, while 7540 is aimed at the east coast, 315 degrees. Furthermore, 11590 is for CIRAF targets 6 and 7, i.e. W and C USA, while 7260 is at 7-9, i.e. C & E USA plus Maritime Provinces. Either the listings or the transmissions are reversed, opposite of what they ought to be!
And she still hasn`t heard about the shift to 7540 made months ago to avoid Romania on 7535 before 0200! She spoke quite informally, asking for reports evaluating whether listeners could barely hear her or not. Also now is the time to make suggestions about new program subjects, as changes are made in December (not January?) and July.
Address given as P O Box 550, Cairo, and `zip code 11511`. Another hint that she is an American, as the term ZIP code properly applies only to American postal codes, originally standing for Zone Improvement Program. Need to recheck the box announcement as PWBR `2009` mentions two others, and WRTH mentions one other, but they agree on the postal code. Careful to write EGYPT in large letters, as otherwise your p-mail may wind up in the DLO on Long Island, where it is apparently not a valid US ZIP code.
0225 on to press review, 0231 YL pop music singer in Arabic, 0239 another talk feature. Reception weakened somewhat and next program at 0301 was ``--- in Egypt``. Meanwhile, Arabic service on 6290 remained stronger but as usual, heavily distorted, not assisted by the speaker yelling at 0234 check (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA [and non]. 9680 with Qur`an, Sept 20 at 1250 mixing at 4 Hz SAH with something in Chinese. Per listings, must presume Qur`an station is RRI domestic service relay, versus the PRC/ROC radio war, with RTI attracting mandatory CNR1 ChiCom jamming. RRI obstinately insists on staying on that ruined frequency. Meanwhile, could not detect even a carrier on 9525v at 1316 when the VOI English service should have been airing (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** IRAN. 15200, Sept 20 at 1327 piano music, whence? 1330 two or three chimes and announcement definitely in Japanese, choral anthem, somewhat distorted, but abruptly off at 1332* in mid-announcement. WRTH A09 update has the answer: VOIRI, Sirjan site which is scheduled in Indonesian until 1330, then supposed to switch to 15555 for Japanese, and where I might have heard them from 1332 if propagating. Just another instance of the Iranians unable to coordinate program and transmitter switching properly. Aoki, however, claims the 1230-1327 on 15200 is in Malaysian, meaning Malay? which is extremely similar to Indonesian (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KOREA SOUTH [non]. 9560, UT Sun Sept 20 at 0206-0210 surprised to hear the AER DX report voiced by Pedro Sedano, with news about HCJB`s imminent closure, R. Discovery having been on 4730 but no mention of next frequency 4780; RNV`s new SW site in Guaríco state, instead of Guárico, item about LRA36. This was a segment in KBSWR`s half-hour Spanish broadcast via Sackville. VG signal here, per Aoki at 277 degrees, i.e. somewhat north of due west. It might be more useful to aim it toward CAm, at most azimuthwise, Mexico, or is it for all the Latinos residing in California right in the boresight? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** PORTUGAL. 15560, RDPI opening Abraço da Madeira show, Sun Sept 20 at 1311 with VG signal; upbeat announcer said it was from Funchal studio. Every little island should be so lucky as Madeira to have a weekly two-hour worldwide SW contact show courtesy of the mother country. But is there an equivalent from the Açores? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. 17485, Sunday Sept 20 at 1457 DTK already on with Brother Scare, good clear modulation, better than he deserves or gets from WWRB. This not supposed to start until 1500, but I expect the stereotypically precise German operators at Jülich are demoralized, knowing their jobs will last only another month; so why not burn up a little extra transmitter time for the Last Days Prophet of God? Signal remained good at spot chex during following hour tho aimed oppositely at 160 degrees (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN. 9690, Sept 20 at 0156 surprised to hear the REE IS where there is no REE transmission scheduled; but it was just an admission that Noblejas was about to relay CRI, as there followed a decent interval of silence at 0158, then 0200 CRI IS and sign-on in Chinese (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. No doubt it varies, but checking WRMI evenings to note when 9955 fades out: UT Sept 20 it was good during an English religionist between 0130 and 0145, but gone at next check shortly after 0200. These are both scheduled on the SSE antenna UT Sundays.
Surprised to hear an old WORLD OF RADIO, 1465 from a quarteryear ago, concluding at 1542 Sunday Sept 20 on WRMI 9955, instead of current 1478. Jeff White says it was glitch in the automation and should not happen again (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** VENEZUELA [non]. After last Sunday`s fake-out, I paid closer attention to Aló, Presidente frequencies via Cuba on Sept 20. No sign of them at 1423, altho RHC 13680, normally running until 1500, was absent as if the transmitter were being moved to an A,P channel. Mainly monitored 13750 which is the major A,P channel here and not used otherwise by Cuba. Finally at 1546 found a big carrier cutting on and off, 1547 joining Hugo in progress, but still going off and on at 1548. Meanwhile, 13680 now on weakly with // Hugo. Could also make him out on 11690, almost // an echo apart from 13750, but not on the other nominal channels 12010 and 17750. So it appears that the DentroCubans are no longer providing their own sesquihour prolog from 1400, but just turning on some transmitters whenever they get around to it.
Did not check again until 1928, and found a different situation with Hugo still blathering against capitalism on these frequencies from best to worst: 12010, 17750, 11690, JBA 13680 but 13750 off the air. See CUBA for more observations during this period (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 9600.4, again hearing that intriguing het, possibly XEYU trying to operate with peanutpower, Sept 20 at 0612 against 9600.0 station in French, i.e. Radio Bulgaria. At this time little else was audible on 31m, the best being a weakish WYFR on 9680 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
