** AUSTRALIA. All three VL8s doing well Oct 12 at 1243 in // English discussion as I was on 2325 and heard a promo/ID for ``783, ABC Alice Springs``; this time it was somewhat stronger than 2310, and weakest on 2485. Do they ever announce the SW callsigns and frequencies, or are they turned on and forgotten? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake Oct 12 at 1352: 8400 JBA with Spanish 2-way SSB QRM on lo side; also JBA on 9000. Has been a few weeks since I`ve heard any of the higher OOB channels on 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 17 or 18 MHz ranges; I assume FD and Sound of Hope are still there, just not propagating (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. RHC anomaly check Oct 12 at 0530: ops normal on 49m, English service but in music on 6140, 6060, 6010; Spanish on 6120, 6000. 11760 Spanish JBA and so the constellation of spurs were inaudible. No phones ringing to be heard, or squeals noted. But:
5898, Oct 12 at 0536, spy number/letter transmitter surely as powerful as any RHC broadcast outlet, 250 kW, with phone ringing every few sex along with huge hum. 0540 briefly overridden by huger multi-tone data burst, then resumes ringing. A theory: that`s one way of ``calling up`` the spy info, and it finally answered. The ringing sound is like what you hear out of your phone earpiece, not what you hear coming out of the phone`s ringer (electronic anyway these days, not mechanical), so no open mikes need to be involved. Could be crossed wires in the exchange, or wires too close, so that the ringing circuit, always running on standby to be switched into a connexion which needs to be ringing, gets into the line from spy-central to transmitters.
For the third day in a row, the RHC 11760 transmitter is putting out multiple spurs: Oct 12 at 1353 sufficiently modulated to be taken as intentional, tho with hum, on 11811.2 playing Guantanamera, and 11708.8. The further ones weakening progressively with same tone mixed in, again detectable down to 11197 and up to 12221, roughly, every 51.2 kHz. Some had really big clashes such as 12016 with the resident RTTY.
At 1446, found 13780 still with squeal but not 13680 or the others (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDIA. The AIR Aligarh extremely distorted blob was centered on 9475 Oct 12 at 1327, i.e. right on top of R. Australia in Chinese, also detectable; blob spread from 9470 to 9490, still peaking at 9475 at 1456 check.
9425, AIR Bengaluru, clear // distorted 9475v, Oct 12 at 1430 with Akashvani ID, 5+1 timesignal but one second late compared to WWV! I wonder how it would compare to ATA. Right into news in English about Pakistan releasing Mumbai terrorist (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA [and non]. 4925, RRI Jambi, Oct 12 at 1249 peaking S9+10 in Indonesian mentioning ``berita2`` and ``warta berita`` (news), a sure tipoff as to language. Then to some choral music, with something similar on Makassar 4750 but not // as soon one was talking and one was musicking. The two about same signal level, but 4925 has CODAR QRM. Both still audible at 1326 but weakening.
3325, where it`s always a question whether PNG or RRI Palangkaraya, Oct 12 at 1255 the best extracontinental signal on 90m so I stick with it a while. 3335 and 3385 PNG also audible, the latter still at 1326. On 3325, W&M dialog, rather dramatically expressed. Sure sounds Indonesian rather than Tok-Pisin, and not English; I did not pick up any Indonesian keywords, but did catch a reduplication which is more likely Indonesian than TP. YL kept giggling right thru hourtop with no discernible ID, finally 1302 into song. 1319 back to phone calls and more giggling, 1324 music (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KOREA NORTH [non]. R. Free Asia, 5810: see U S A [non]
** LIBYA [and non]. While 5810 is still holding up from the west as late as 1500 [see USA [non]], it`s also peak time for highest frequency openings from the east: Oct 12 at 1506, 21695 in surprisingly well, muffled and lo-fi but good S9+8 signal level in discussion of aid by Western agencies to Africa, 1510 ID as Voice of Africa from the Great Jamahiyah, for the moment a bit better than // 17725.
Only other signals on 13m were Spain on 21610 and 21570, about equal to Libya in strength but much better in modulation during music at 1508 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** OMAN. I always look for R. Sultanate of Oman on 15140 when bandscanning between 14 and 15, and usually can`t hear any trace of it. But on Oct 12 at 1435 weak YL in English, presumably news on the half-hour, undermodulated and suffering from WYFR 15130 splash. 1438 started mixing with music, and 1440 just music, Western-sounding song of some sort (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SWAZILAND. I normally find TWR rather boring to log, but they do have a nice chime IS, Oct 12 at 1452 on 9635 atop Chile and/or Vietnam making SAH; between each three iterations every 35-40 sex, inserted ID in English as ``Trans World Radio, Swaziland``. 1455 already opening in some obscure language, per Aoki Malagasy at 53 degrees, except on Sundays when it`s French (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WEWN, 12160 in English, Oct 12 at 1447 with heavy CODAR QRM, worst I have heard it on a major SWBC station. Must have been at least two CODARS mixed in, and hard to believe 40 watts could do that to 250 kW, which is the power FCC says WEWN is now running. Catholix vs CODAR! At this time at least weak CODAR swishes could be heard all the way between 12100 and 12330 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. Has been quite a while since I snared the spurs from KVOH, but not to be outdone by RHC, they succeeded Oct 12 at 1514 when fundamental 17775 was VG at S9+20 level in Spanish preaching from Pedro, and could also hear // audio in distortion but mostly big hum, centered on 17630 vs CRI English via Mali, and 17920 vs nothing but potentially harmful to aero comms. Checked for more spurs further out at 145 kHz intervals, but none audible. One might have been weakly on 17485, but if there, overcome by too much Brother Scare via Jülich. More could show up later in day if fundamental build up higher than only 20 over 9. Previously the spurs had been 1 kHz closer to or further from fundamental, so the exact offset varies somewhat, why? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [non]. Usually hear VOA English on 7575, which is Thailand at 14-16, but Oct 12 at 1457 nothing audible, instead 7545 which is Tinang, PHILIPPINES, outro to VOA Editorial, previewing plenty of frequencies following hour for Border Crossings, but could not copy all of them due fades. 7545 has some ute digital QRM on lo side mixed with SSB voice.
After an open carrier a few minutes earlier, at 1500 found VOA English also on 7520, which is supposed to be Tinang too with 2 x 250 kW at 200 and 270 degrees. Announcer gave wrong timecheck as 1400, then news. This was an echo apart from 7545 despite being same site.
One last check of 50m at 1503 Oct 12 to see if anything is still making it from Asia: yes, peaking S9, Korean on 5810, which is almost Asia, TINIAN, RFA just starting a 4-hour midnight broadcast to Juche victims huddled under the covers secretly monitoring the Outside World with their earbuds or barely audible pillow speakers, instead of getting some much-needed sleep in their miserable lives as slaves of The Dear Leader. Or so RFA hopes (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 15895-15925, OTH radar pulses, presumed Oct 12 at 1445; at 1512 also 17515-17545, both fortunately clear of SWBC victims (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
** CHINA. Firedrake Oct 12 at 1352: 8400 JBA with Spanish 2-way SSB QRM on lo side; also JBA on 9000. Has been a few weeks since I`ve heard any of the higher OOB channels on 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 17 or 18 MHz ranges; I assume FD and Sound of Hope are still there, just not propagating (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. RHC anomaly check Oct 12 at 0530: ops normal on 49m, English service but in music on 6140, 6060, 6010; Spanish on 6120, 6000. 11760 Spanish JBA and so the constellation of spurs were inaudible. No phones ringing to be heard, or squeals noted. But:
5898, Oct 12 at 0536, spy number/letter transmitter surely as powerful as any RHC broadcast outlet, 250 kW, with phone ringing every few sex along with huge hum. 0540 briefly overridden by huger multi-tone data burst, then resumes ringing. A theory: that`s one way of ``calling up`` the spy info, and it finally answered. The ringing sound is like what you hear out of your phone earpiece, not what you hear coming out of the phone`s ringer (electronic anyway these days, not mechanical), so no open mikes need to be involved. Could be crossed wires in the exchange, or wires too close, so that the ringing circuit, always running on standby to be switched into a connexion which needs to be ringing, gets into the line from spy-central to transmitters.
For the third day in a row, the RHC 11760 transmitter is putting out multiple spurs: Oct 12 at 1353 sufficiently modulated to be taken as intentional, tho with hum, on 11811.2 playing Guantanamera, and 11708.8. The further ones weakening progressively with same tone mixed in, again detectable down to 11197 and up to 12221, roughly, every 51.2 kHz. Some had really big clashes such as 12016 with the resident RTTY.
At 1446, found 13780 still with squeal but not 13680 or the others (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDIA. The AIR Aligarh extremely distorted blob was centered on 9475 Oct 12 at 1327, i.e. right on top of R. Australia in Chinese, also detectable; blob spread from 9470 to 9490, still peaking at 9475 at 1456 check.
9425, AIR Bengaluru, clear // distorted 9475v, Oct 12 at 1430 with Akashvani ID, 5+1 timesignal but one second late compared to WWV! I wonder how it would compare to ATA. Right into news in English about Pakistan releasing Mumbai terrorist (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA [and non]. 4925, RRI Jambi, Oct 12 at 1249 peaking S9+10 in Indonesian mentioning ``berita2`` and ``warta berita`` (news), a sure tipoff as to language. Then to some choral music, with something similar on Makassar 4750 but not // as soon one was talking and one was musicking. The two about same signal level, but 4925 has CODAR QRM. Both still audible at 1326 but weakening.
3325, where it`s always a question whether PNG or RRI Palangkaraya, Oct 12 at 1255 the best extracontinental signal on 90m so I stick with it a while. 3335 and 3385 PNG also audible, the latter still at 1326. On 3325, W&M dialog, rather dramatically expressed. Sure sounds Indonesian rather than Tok-Pisin, and not English; I did not pick up any Indonesian keywords, but did catch a reduplication which is more likely Indonesian than TP. YL kept giggling right thru hourtop with no discernible ID, finally 1302 into song. 1319 back to phone calls and more giggling, 1324 music (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KOREA NORTH [non]. R. Free Asia, 5810: see U S A [non]
** LIBYA [and non]. While 5810 is still holding up from the west as late as 1500 [see USA [non]], it`s also peak time for highest frequency openings from the east: Oct 12 at 1506, 21695 in surprisingly well, muffled and lo-fi but good S9+8 signal level in discussion of aid by Western agencies to Africa, 1510 ID as Voice of Africa from the Great Jamahiyah, for the moment a bit better than // 17725.
Only other signals on 13m were Spain on 21610 and 21570, about equal to Libya in strength but much better in modulation during music at 1508 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** OMAN. I always look for R. Sultanate of Oman on 15140 when bandscanning between 14 and 15, and usually can`t hear any trace of it. But on Oct 12 at 1435 weak YL in English, presumably news on the half-hour, undermodulated and suffering from WYFR 15130 splash. 1438 started mixing with music, and 1440 just music, Western-sounding song of some sort (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SWAZILAND. I normally find TWR rather boring to log, but they do have a nice chime IS, Oct 12 at 1452 on 9635 atop Chile and/or Vietnam making SAH; between each three iterations every 35-40 sex, inserted ID in English as ``Trans World Radio, Swaziland``. 1455 already opening in some obscure language, per Aoki Malagasy at 53 degrees, except on Sundays when it`s French (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WEWN, 12160 in English, Oct 12 at 1447 with heavy CODAR QRM, worst I have heard it on a major SWBC station. Must have been at least two CODARS mixed in, and hard to believe 40 watts could do that to 250 kW, which is the power FCC says WEWN is now running. Catholix vs CODAR! At this time at least weak CODAR swishes could be heard all the way between 12100 and 12330 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. Has been quite a while since I snared the spurs from KVOH, but not to be outdone by RHC, they succeeded Oct 12 at 1514 when fundamental 17775 was VG at S9+20 level in Spanish preaching from Pedro, and could also hear // audio in distortion but mostly big hum, centered on 17630 vs CRI English via Mali, and 17920 vs nothing but potentially harmful to aero comms. Checked for more spurs further out at 145 kHz intervals, but none audible. One might have been weakly on 17485, but if there, overcome by too much Brother Scare via Jülich. More could show up later in day if fundamental build up higher than only 20 over 9. Previously the spurs had been 1 kHz closer to or further from fundamental, so the exact offset varies somewhat, why? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [non]. Usually hear VOA English on 7575, which is Thailand at 14-16, but Oct 12 at 1457 nothing audible, instead 7545 which is Tinang, PHILIPPINES, outro to VOA Editorial, previewing plenty of frequencies following hour for Border Crossings, but could not copy all of them due fades. 7545 has some ute digital QRM on lo side mixed with SSB voice.
After an open carrier a few minutes earlier, at 1500 found VOA English also on 7520, which is supposed to be Tinang too with 2 x 250 kW at 200 and 270 degrees. Announcer gave wrong timecheck as 1400, then news. This was an echo apart from 7545 despite being same site.
One last check of 50m at 1503 Oct 12 to see if anything is still making it from Asia: yes, peaking S9, Korean on 5810, which is almost Asia, TINIAN, RFA just starting a 4-hour midnight broadcast to Juche victims huddled under the covers secretly monitoring the Outside World with their earbuds or barely audible pillow speakers, instead of getting some much-needed sleep in their miserable lives as slaves of The Dear Leader. Or so RFA hopes (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 15895-15925, OTH radar pulses, presumed Oct 12 at 1445; at 1512 also 17515-17545, both fortunately clear of SWBC victims (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
