** ANTARCTICA. Just a trace of a signal from LRA36 on 15476, Oct 1 at 1945; nothing like the S9 peaks a week before (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake Oct 2: at 1240, JBA on 9000, and NBA (not barely audible) on 8400; nor sometime during the next hour audible on 10210 or anywhere higher (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. You never know whether 6140 from RHC will be in Spanish or English, tho the online schedule says English. Oct 2 at 0511 it was in English, tho hummy, // 6060 and 6010, despite Spanish frequency 6120 still absent, which 24 hours earlier we assumed might be the reason why 6140 had switched to Spanish. Only 6000 had Spanish this time (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ECUADOR. Yes, HCJB lives on 6050, presumably its only remaining SW frequency (regional services on 3220, 6080 also gone?), Oct 2 at 1200 in Spanish with business as usual with religious comments, mixed with some federal and municipal government PSAs produced so as to sound like commercials. Hetting Malaysia 6049.6v. HCJB slowly fades down as the sun rises over Quito and Enid, but is capable of reaching at least as far as Florida all day (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** FRANCE. Checking once again for RFI on 7265 during the 05-06 UT hour, which for two days was heavily echoing, then missing Oct 1: on Oct 2 at 0535 I could barely make out very weak YL talk in French, and seemed not to have an echo, but instead a much quicker reverb/hollow sound. Neighbors Portugal 7240, Vatican 7250, Ascension 7255, Tunisia 7275 were all much stronger, so these variations from France are still odd. Maybe TDF are playing with azimuth changes at Issoudun or even experimenting with other relay sites, which could explain the double audio earlier (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GUAM [and non]. 11880, Oct 2 at 1331 with talk in Thai, as scheduled from KSDA on M/W/F at 1330-1400, while English is on Thu and Sat, Cambodian on Sun & Tue. Bothered by rapid clicking slightly on the hi side, as often heard. I suspect that is spurious from the DentroCuban Jamming Command on 11845; resembles the clicking often audible around 6080, which would likewise be spurious from 6030 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDIA. 9425, AIR National Channel via Bengaluru, Oct 2 at 1320 with IS, into Vande Mataram. (Ron Howard explained that it`s the National Song of India, which can allegedly also be heard at http://odeo.com/episodes/1880543 but I could not get that to play.)
1321 ``Yih Akashvani`` Hindi ID and YL with some kHz. Why at the odd hour of 1320? It`s the listed sign-on time for the all-night service on 9425 which runs all the way to 0043, supposedly // Aligarh on 9470 but not audible here (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. 9680, RRI, Oct 2 at 1301 in Indonesian, full ID with several kHz and MHz, web streaming address I could not quite catch, then trying to phone Sumatera RRI stations, notably Pekanbaru, which is across the mountain range from Padang. BTW, Pekanbaru is stressed on the U; neither of those on SW for years now. Good signal and modulation, not much QRM at this hour.
Meanwhile, how was VOI doing from a nearby transmitter down the hall at Cimanggis, Java? Still offset to 9525.9 at 1311 during English hour, but after a couple days of decent modulation, had replummeted to just barely audible. Is no one paying attention to the modulation levels at all stages from studio to transmitter? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** JAPAN [non]. 6120, NHKWRJ via CANADA, Oct 2 at 1215, there was no escaping the disco-beat on Yucatán 6104.8 (see MEXICO), as I tuned 15+ kHz upward and found more of it, a familiar tune as theme to the Radio Japan Focus program, talking incongruously about ancient Japanese court music getting some kind of world heritage recognition. But did we hear a note of it? Of course not! Just the disco in background. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gagaku
Main topic was instead about a Chinese scholar, Liang Sicheng, 1911-1972y, who successfully persuaded American forces to spare Nara and Kyoto from air raids in WW II, as well as many historic places in China, on behalf of the government of Chiang Kai-Shek. He deeply treasured Japanese historic sites, preserving what had already been lost in China, and was in fact born in Japan. It seems his work went largely unrecognized until recently, as a statue of him is about to be erected in Nara. Audio, apparently for one week only: http://www.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/radio/asx/friday.asx
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. 6104.8, Oct 2 at 1210 the usual considerable het revealing presence of always-off-frequency XEQM, RASA Mérida, but this time also some modulation making it, YL speaking what I assume was a Maya dialect, but with a Spanish accent, and occasional real Spanish interspersed for concepts apparently foreign to the Maya, such as ``programas educativos``. 1214 had incongruous disco-beat behind a commercial; but see JAPAN [non]. O, for a Q multiplier, to boost the signal and avoid the ACI from Asians on 6100 and 6110, and O, for a notch, to avoid the CCI from the Asian on 6105.0 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** PHILIPPINES. If the FEBC schedule on page 454 of the WRTH 2009 looks a bit sparse, you`re right. It shows nothing at all on the air in any language, evenings after 1300 UT from either site Bocaue or Iba. It must be incomplete!
I was wondering if Bocaue was really curtailed or off the air, as FEBC had warned in a quick call-for-prayer after the typhoon and flooding hit, but FEBC in Chinese was being heard as usual at 1315 Oct 2 on 9400 plus a different Chinese program on 9430.
Per Aoki, 9400 is in Chinese at 0900-1400 from Iba while 9430 is in Chinese at 0900-1630 from Bocaue. So both are apparently still on the air; better signal on 9400.
The incomplete listing in WRTH 2009 was corrected in the A-09 pdf WRTH updater, under Philippines integrating schedules from these sites plus KFBS Saipan, and showing lots after 1300. It lists 9400 and 9430 separately under Mandarin on page 27/28, and the former has KFBS 11580 along with it, so are those two really parallel?
Hmong singing, à la Hmong Lao Radio on WHRI, was also ruining reception of CBCNQ on 9625 with a fast ripplying SAH since Sackville at least is off-frequency, Oct 2 at 1307. This is also listed as FEBC via Bocaue. It would have been helpful if God had told his typhoon to blow that one off the air permanently, but he is apparently partial to the Christian Hmong over the probably Christian Inuit.
So it looks as if Bocaue was spared, found on at least two frequencies today. WRTH 2009 says there are 3 x 50 kW there and 1 x 100 kW, while at Iba there are 2 x 100 kW.
Finding anything recent about typhoon damage on FEBC website starting at http://febc.ph/ --- let alone a SW frequency schedule --- is an exercise in futility (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SWEDEN. 15735, R. Sweden, quite good Oct 2 wrapping up English semihour at 1355, despite being aimed anything but USward, 40 degrees per Aoki, 55 per HFCC. Averaging S9+10, plus/minus 5. Certainly not longpath, but plenty of the 500 kW signal leaking off the backside of the antennas, coupled with favorable propagation, which was not always the case this summer. Ha ha, we can still hear you in the morning (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. Checking for WORLD OF RADIO via WBCQ, Thursday Oct 1 at 1925, in noise just barely audible trace of my voice on 9330-CUSB, and after 1930 more clearly the voice of Ed Bolton, a.k.a. Amos `n` Andy; these are supposedly on 7415 only, but a good thing they are sometimes simulcast on 9330, as 7415 was totally inaudible here (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. Anything non-English catches the ear of tuners-by 5920 or 9370 from FBN. Oct 2 at 1206, 5920 had preaching in Spanish, making fast rippling SAH over Russia, proving WBOH is much closer to proper frequency than WTJC is, but no cigar. Does their weekday program schedule in EDT at http://www.fbnradio.com/new_page_copy%281%29.htm show Spanish at 8 am? Of course not! In fact, the only Spanish shown is a 15-minute show on Sundays at 6:05 am and 8:30 pm = 1005 and UT Monday 0030. These pages bear a 2008 copyright, but I bet they are even staler (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** VIETNAM [non]. Attention, would-be Vietnamese language students: VOV via Canada, 6175 heard again with lesson presented in English during the Vietnamese-language broadcast, starting at 0518 UT Friday Oct 2, as lesson 14, section 4. This is getting pretty advanced, so you need some visual material to go with it, available on paper or monitor?? If that`s a bit late for you in most of NAm, I suspect it`s a repeat of something earlier in evening, unknown when, but most likely 0218, as there are two one-hour broadcasts starting at 0130 and 0430; now, are they daily, M-F or what? Do they promote them during the English broadcasts so people at least know they are available? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 5200-5270, OTH radar pulses mixing with CODAR. They deserve each other, but do they disrupt each other? CODAR seems oblivious to broadcast QRM, as are the broadcasters who don`t raise a stink about it. At 1208 Oct 2 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 15535-15555, peak of presumed OTH radar clix, Oct 2 at 1356, fortunately no broadcasters getting hit at the moment. Not much scheduled either except for some likely wooden Russian registrations, and inaudible Iran in Japanese on 15555 at 1330-1427+ (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
** CHINA. Firedrake Oct 2: at 1240, JBA on 9000, and NBA (not barely audible) on 8400; nor sometime during the next hour audible on 10210 or anywhere higher (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. You never know whether 6140 from RHC will be in Spanish or English, tho the online schedule says English. Oct 2 at 0511 it was in English, tho hummy, // 6060 and 6010, despite Spanish frequency 6120 still absent, which 24 hours earlier we assumed might be the reason why 6140 had switched to Spanish. Only 6000 had Spanish this time (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ECUADOR. Yes, HCJB lives on 6050, presumably its only remaining SW frequency (regional services on 3220, 6080 also gone?), Oct 2 at 1200 in Spanish with business as usual with religious comments, mixed with some federal and municipal government PSAs produced so as to sound like commercials. Hetting Malaysia 6049.6v. HCJB slowly fades down as the sun rises over Quito and Enid, but is capable of reaching at least as far as Florida all day (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** FRANCE. Checking once again for RFI on 7265 during the 05-06 UT hour, which for two days was heavily echoing, then missing Oct 1: on Oct 2 at 0535 I could barely make out very weak YL talk in French, and seemed not to have an echo, but instead a much quicker reverb/hollow sound. Neighbors Portugal 7240, Vatican 7250, Ascension 7255, Tunisia 7275 were all much stronger, so these variations from France are still odd. Maybe TDF are playing with azimuth changes at Issoudun or even experimenting with other relay sites, which could explain the double audio earlier (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GUAM [and non]. 11880, Oct 2 at 1331 with talk in Thai, as scheduled from KSDA on M/W/F at 1330-1400, while English is on Thu and Sat, Cambodian on Sun & Tue. Bothered by rapid clicking slightly on the hi side, as often heard. I suspect that is spurious from the DentroCuban Jamming Command on 11845; resembles the clicking often audible around 6080, which would likewise be spurious from 6030 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDIA. 9425, AIR National Channel via Bengaluru, Oct 2 at 1320 with IS, into Vande Mataram. (Ron Howard explained that it`s the National Song of India, which can allegedly also be heard at http://odeo.com/episodes/1880543 but I could not get that to play.)
1321 ``Yih Akashvani`` Hindi ID and YL with some kHz. Why at the odd hour of 1320? It`s the listed sign-on time for the all-night service on 9425 which runs all the way to 0043, supposedly // Aligarh on 9470 but not audible here (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. 9680, RRI, Oct 2 at 1301 in Indonesian, full ID with several kHz and MHz, web streaming address I could not quite catch, then trying to phone Sumatera RRI stations, notably Pekanbaru, which is across the mountain range from Padang. BTW, Pekanbaru is stressed on the U; neither of those on SW for years now. Good signal and modulation, not much QRM at this hour.
Meanwhile, how was VOI doing from a nearby transmitter down the hall at Cimanggis, Java? Still offset to 9525.9 at 1311 during English hour, but after a couple days of decent modulation, had replummeted to just barely audible. Is no one paying attention to the modulation levels at all stages from studio to transmitter? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** JAPAN [non]. 6120, NHKWRJ via CANADA, Oct 2 at 1215, there was no escaping the disco-beat on Yucatán 6104.8 (see MEXICO), as I tuned 15+ kHz upward and found more of it, a familiar tune as theme to the Radio Japan Focus program, talking incongruously about ancient Japanese court music getting some kind of world heritage recognition. But did we hear a note of it? Of course not! Just the disco in background. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gagaku
Main topic was instead about a Chinese scholar, Liang Sicheng, 1911-1972y, who successfully persuaded American forces to spare Nara and Kyoto from air raids in WW II, as well as many historic places in China, on behalf of the government of Chiang Kai-Shek. He deeply treasured Japanese historic sites, preserving what had already been lost in China, and was in fact born in Japan. It seems his work went largely unrecognized until recently, as a statue of him is about to be erected in Nara. Audio, apparently for one week only: http://www.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/radio/asx/friday.asx
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. 6104.8, Oct 2 at 1210 the usual considerable het revealing presence of always-off-frequency XEQM, RASA Mérida, but this time also some modulation making it, YL speaking what I assume was a Maya dialect, but with a Spanish accent, and occasional real Spanish interspersed for concepts apparently foreign to the Maya, such as ``programas educativos``. 1214 had incongruous disco-beat behind a commercial; but see JAPAN [non]. O, for a Q multiplier, to boost the signal and avoid the ACI from Asians on 6100 and 6110, and O, for a notch, to avoid the CCI from the Asian on 6105.0 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** PHILIPPINES. If the FEBC schedule on page 454 of the WRTH 2009 looks a bit sparse, you`re right. It shows nothing at all on the air in any language, evenings after 1300 UT from either site Bocaue or Iba. It must be incomplete!
I was wondering if Bocaue was really curtailed or off the air, as FEBC had warned in a quick call-for-prayer after the typhoon and flooding hit, but FEBC in Chinese was being heard as usual at 1315 Oct 2 on 9400 plus a different Chinese program on 9430.
Per Aoki, 9400 is in Chinese at 0900-1400 from Iba while 9430 is in Chinese at 0900-1630 from Bocaue. So both are apparently still on the air; better signal on 9400.
The incomplete listing in WRTH 2009 was corrected in the A-09 pdf WRTH updater, under Philippines integrating schedules from these sites plus KFBS Saipan, and showing lots after 1300. It lists 9400 and 9430 separately under Mandarin on page 27/28, and the former has KFBS 11580 along with it, so are those two really parallel?
Hmong singing, à la Hmong Lao Radio on WHRI, was also ruining reception of CBCNQ on 9625 with a fast ripplying SAH since Sackville at least is off-frequency, Oct 2 at 1307. This is also listed as FEBC via Bocaue. It would have been helpful if God had told his typhoon to blow that one off the air permanently, but he is apparently partial to the Christian Hmong over the probably Christian Inuit.
So it looks as if Bocaue was spared, found on at least two frequencies today. WRTH 2009 says there are 3 x 50 kW there and 1 x 100 kW, while at Iba there are 2 x 100 kW.
Finding anything recent about typhoon damage on FEBC website starting at http://febc.ph/ --- let alone a SW frequency schedule --- is an exercise in futility (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SWEDEN. 15735, R. Sweden, quite good Oct 2 wrapping up English semihour at 1355, despite being aimed anything but USward, 40 degrees per Aoki, 55 per HFCC. Averaging S9+10, plus/minus 5. Certainly not longpath, but plenty of the 500 kW signal leaking off the backside of the antennas, coupled with favorable propagation, which was not always the case this summer. Ha ha, we can still hear you in the morning (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. Checking for WORLD OF RADIO via WBCQ, Thursday Oct 1 at 1925, in noise just barely audible trace of my voice on 9330-CUSB, and after 1930 more clearly the voice of Ed Bolton, a.k.a. Amos `n` Andy; these are supposedly on 7415 only, but a good thing they are sometimes simulcast on 9330, as 7415 was totally inaudible here (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. Anything non-English catches the ear of tuners-by 5920 or 9370 from FBN. Oct 2 at 1206, 5920 had preaching in Spanish, making fast rippling SAH over Russia, proving WBOH is much closer to proper frequency than WTJC is, but no cigar. Does their weekday program schedule in EDT at http://www.fbnradio.com/new_page_copy%281%29.htm show Spanish at 8 am? Of course not! In fact, the only Spanish shown is a 15-minute show on Sundays at 6:05 am and 8:30 pm = 1005 and UT Monday 0030. These pages bear a 2008 copyright, but I bet they are even staler (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** VIETNAM [non]. Attention, would-be Vietnamese language students: VOV via Canada, 6175 heard again with lesson presented in English during the Vietnamese-language broadcast, starting at 0518 UT Friday Oct 2, as lesson 14, section 4. This is getting pretty advanced, so you need some visual material to go with it, available on paper or monitor?? If that`s a bit late for you in most of NAm, I suspect it`s a repeat of something earlier in evening, unknown when, but most likely 0218, as there are two one-hour broadcasts starting at 0130 and 0430; now, are they daily, M-F or what? Do they promote them during the English broadcasts so people at least know they are available? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 5200-5270, OTH radar pulses mixing with CODAR. They deserve each other, but do they disrupt each other? CODAR seems oblivious to broadcast QRM, as are the broadcasters who don`t raise a stink about it. At 1208 Oct 2 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 15535-15555, peak of presumed OTH radar clix, Oct 2 at 1356, fortunately no broadcasters getting hit at the moment. Not much scheduled either except for some likely wooden Russian registrations, and inaudible Iran in Japanese on 15555 at 1330-1427+ (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
