** CHINA. Firedrake Oct 14: at 1347 fair but fluttery at S9+15 levels on both 8400 and 9000, where we never ever hear a trace of presumed target, Sound of Hope, but weak ham transmitters there are enough to tie down ChiCom jammers which could do more damage elsewhere. At 1352, Firedrake was much better with less flutter on 10210 at S9+18, also SOHless. Still the same at final check 1443 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. RHC check Oct 14 at 0617: 6140 in English tonight and has phone ringing audible, otherwise // 6060 and 6010. Then could barely hear ringing also on 6060, but not 6010. 6140 is weaker than usual. Spanish on 6120; and 6000 which is much stronger than usual --- hmmm, have they swapped transmitters/antennas on 6140 and 6000?
5800, the spy-numbers transmitter, Oct 14 at 0622, had open carrier with hum, plus: phone ringing; irregular weak tones, not Morse code; weak crosstalk from a voice transmission, maybe RHC. Then all this overridden by a loud tone and data burst for a few sex, and back to the other stuff.
The 11760 transmitter still outputting spurs at multiples of plus and minus 51.2 kHz, Oct 14 at 1354, altho could not detect 23 of them as before, perhaps due somewhat weaker signal on fundamental. ``Best`` of course on nearest ones, 11708.8 and 11811.2; some others audible: 11452.8 with big tone; 11504.0; 11657.6 also with RHC audio; 12067.2 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CYPRUS. Haven`t heard BBCWS in English on 21470 for months since they moved this frequency off Ascension, but Oct 14 at 1434 it was fairly audible while stronger Sa`udi Arabia [q.v.] was in on 21460, 21505, 21640. Current schedule has this fittingly as Cyprus, 250 kW at 175 degrees, 14-17; preceded by Seychelles 08-14, 250 kW at 240 degrees. OTH radar pulses also likely from nearby Cyprus site were propagating too: see UNIDENTIFIED (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDIA [and non]. AIR Aligarh blob on Oct 14 at 1320 with sign-on anthem Vande Mataram // 9425, centered on nominal 9470, but still a huge mess of distorted audio, and extending 9465-9490. At 1349 it was bothering at its edge R. Thailand on 9455, and covering R. Australia on 9475. At 1441, Russian on 9465 was trying to make it thru the blob which covered up to 9480. 9465 would be KFBS, Saipan, 323 degrees from Marpi per Aoki and EiBi. In case these items seem repetitive, sorry, but we shall keep reporting the Aligarh abomination whenever monitored until fixed. Have AIR no shame? Or unmotivated to make any repairs, instead waiting till DRM comes along and `fixes` everything (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. 3976.0 fairly good with music, then soft YL talk, Oct 14 at 1318; some QRhaM from SSB on 3977. Doubtless RRI Pontianak on its unique frequency, confirmed as such by comparing to 5975.0. My local noise level has abated, and 90m was hopping with signals too on PNG frequencies but did not take time to log them; not 120m at this hour.
4750 signal is steadily improving, peaking S9+10 today and my compliments too on their good modulation, unlike Jakarta. Oct 14 at 1324 Indonesian talk and just as I tuned in, ID in passing clearly heard as ``Radio Republik Indonesia, Makassar``. No co-channel QRM from the other two Asians on frequency. Something much weaker audible at 1326 on 4925, presumably Jambi, and even weaker on 4870.
9525.9, VOI in English at 1350 Oct 14, YL talking about acoustic music album, then playing something from it ``to conclude``; fair modulation today with hum as always (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KOREA SOUTH. Surprised to hear singing on 6730.0, as I tuned by looking for OTH radar pulses, Oct 14 at 1332, good signal at S9+18, but before I could decide on language, in less than a minute changed to assertive YL with repetitive Korean syllables. They were in groups of 5, but always a pause between the first triad and the second dyad. Some continuous RTTY QRM on lo side. This is the same as the Korean numbers station previously logged several times on 6215, but nothing there now; nor on 6730 at next check 1347. Per S. Hasegawa in DXLD 9-011, 6215 was from South Korea. You will not find either frequency in SWBC frequency references, since despite the music and the broad coverage, they are not considered broadcasts (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SAUDI ARABIA. Sawt al-Buzz, 21505 at 1433 Oct 14 also with Arabic talk and // stronger unbuzzy 21640; different program, Qur`an on 21460. If I were in Sofia, Bulgaria, these would be strong enough to bear several combinations of intermodulation mixing products among them. At the moment BSKSA was dominant on 13m, while Spain was JBA on 21570, 21610; but BBC in on 21470; see CYPRUS (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [and non]. 5955 at 1329 Oct 14, VOA outroing Vietnamese, ``from Voice of America --- Washington``, open carrier for a semi-minute, then ``Welcome to the Voice of America in Khmai`` a.k.a. Khmer, all the while mixed with CRI English, but VOA on top. Take that, you ChiCom spoilers! Axually, CRI is aimed eastward from Beijing, and VOA aimed westward from Tinang, PHILIPPINES, so theoretically there is no collision. Tell that to the frustrated Oklahoman.
7575 until recently was a reliable VOA English frequency here in the mornings, but nothing audible Oct 14 at 1345; instead, VG signal on 7520. 7575 had been scheduled at 13-14 as 21 degrees usward from Tinang, but I don`t find 7520 on any schedules yet during that hour, so cannot be sure of site; could be Philippines, Thailand or NMI. IBB keeps swapping sites and frequencies around for no discernible reason; perhaps to demonstrate they are keeping busy in the office, and/or to keep the overseas operators on their toes.
Speaking of which, how is VOA doing now in coping with the unnecessary site-switch at 1430 in the middle of a continuous hour of News Now programming on 17585? Oct 14 at 1427 I start monitoring, with Today in History at 1428, in the clear from Greenville, nor anything audible on 17575 where Botswana might be warming up. At the very end of the 2-minute TIH feature, Greenville dropped carrier immediately at exactly the right instant; 5-7 seconds later on came weaker Botswana with a crash-start as VOA NN continued. Neither one played a sign-off or sign-on Yankee Doodle Dandy routine.
They have finally got it together, with my congratulations, just the way it should be done, and should have been done ever since A-09 started without any prompting from yours truly. However, there could be a relapse if uninformed personnel take over in shift changes, so be ever-vigilant (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 4800, no sign at 1325 Oct 14 of the MW harmonic(?) cutting on and off, nor at several later chex. They could at least let it go until we could ID it.
Assuming it was from Texas, due to the clear mention of Dallas-Fort Worth when I first heard it, but that could have been the origin of a networked program, and we know it`s not KRVA, in the Vietnamese Metroplex, the other 1600 kHz possibilities are KOGT in Orange, which per NRC AM Log 2009-2010 has a C&W format; KOKE Pflugerville, but that`s no match with Mexican;
OR --- a new station not yet on the air as of publication, in Dalhart, 3000/250 watts. That could fit for a new station still installing or adjusting equipment. Checking FCC AM Query, apparently not. No calls assigned yet, is still only a CP, and now with an application by Amy Meredith to change city of license to Vega, a town known to everyone who has driven I-40 west of Amarillo, while Dalhart is out of the way except for US-54, 87 or 385 travellers, in the extreme NW corner of the Panhandle. Could be she`s aiming to rimshot the huge Amarillo market; hope it doesn`t upmess the NWS TIS relay on 1610. Yes, tho day power reduced to 2.5 kW, pattern puts the major lobe toward AMA. But I digress (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 6760-6865, OTH radar, presumed, or rather at least two of them on adjacent ranges, with individual center peax, Oct 13 at 1332. As with all these OTHR logs, the exact edges are difficult to pin down, so consider the frequency ranges approximate (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 14632-14657, OTH radar pulses, presumed, Oct 14 at 1404. Also 17790-17815 in the middle of the 16m SWBC band! Oct 14 at 1432, primarily degrading WYFR 17795. Wolfgang Büschel says these ones covering 25 kHz are typical of the British facility on CYPRUS (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
** CUBA. RHC check Oct 14 at 0617: 6140 in English tonight and has phone ringing audible, otherwise // 6060 and 6010. Then could barely hear ringing also on 6060, but not 6010. 6140 is weaker than usual. Spanish on 6120; and 6000 which is much stronger than usual --- hmmm, have they swapped transmitters/antennas on 6140 and 6000?
5800, the spy-numbers transmitter, Oct 14 at 0622, had open carrier with hum, plus: phone ringing; irregular weak tones, not Morse code; weak crosstalk from a voice transmission, maybe RHC. Then all this overridden by a loud tone and data burst for a few sex, and back to the other stuff.
The 11760 transmitter still outputting spurs at multiples of plus and minus 51.2 kHz, Oct 14 at 1354, altho could not detect 23 of them as before, perhaps due somewhat weaker signal on fundamental. ``Best`` of course on nearest ones, 11708.8 and 11811.2; some others audible: 11452.8 with big tone; 11504.0; 11657.6 also with RHC audio; 12067.2 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CYPRUS. Haven`t heard BBCWS in English on 21470 for months since they moved this frequency off Ascension, but Oct 14 at 1434 it was fairly audible while stronger Sa`udi Arabia [q.v.] was in on 21460, 21505, 21640. Current schedule has this fittingly as Cyprus, 250 kW at 175 degrees, 14-17; preceded by Seychelles 08-14, 250 kW at 240 degrees. OTH radar pulses also likely from nearby Cyprus site were propagating too: see UNIDENTIFIED (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDIA [and non]. AIR Aligarh blob on Oct 14 at 1320 with sign-on anthem Vande Mataram // 9425, centered on nominal 9470, but still a huge mess of distorted audio, and extending 9465-9490. At 1349 it was bothering at its edge R. Thailand on 9455, and covering R. Australia on 9475. At 1441, Russian on 9465 was trying to make it thru the blob which covered up to 9480. 9465 would be KFBS, Saipan, 323 degrees from Marpi per Aoki and EiBi. In case these items seem repetitive, sorry, but we shall keep reporting the Aligarh abomination whenever monitored until fixed. Have AIR no shame? Or unmotivated to make any repairs, instead waiting till DRM comes along and `fixes` everything (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. 3976.0 fairly good with music, then soft YL talk, Oct 14 at 1318; some QRhaM from SSB on 3977. Doubtless RRI Pontianak on its unique frequency, confirmed as such by comparing to 5975.0. My local noise level has abated, and 90m was hopping with signals too on PNG frequencies but did not take time to log them; not 120m at this hour.
4750 signal is steadily improving, peaking S9+10 today and my compliments too on their good modulation, unlike Jakarta. Oct 14 at 1324 Indonesian talk and just as I tuned in, ID in passing clearly heard as ``Radio Republik Indonesia, Makassar``. No co-channel QRM from the other two Asians on frequency. Something much weaker audible at 1326 on 4925, presumably Jambi, and even weaker on 4870.
9525.9, VOI in English at 1350 Oct 14, YL talking about acoustic music album, then playing something from it ``to conclude``; fair modulation today with hum as always (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KOREA SOUTH. Surprised to hear singing on 6730.0, as I tuned by looking for OTH radar pulses, Oct 14 at 1332, good signal at S9+18, but before I could decide on language, in less than a minute changed to assertive YL with repetitive Korean syllables. They were in groups of 5, but always a pause between the first triad and the second dyad. Some continuous RTTY QRM on lo side. This is the same as the Korean numbers station previously logged several times on 6215, but nothing there now; nor on 6730 at next check 1347. Per S. Hasegawa in DXLD 9-011, 6215 was from South Korea. You will not find either frequency in SWBC frequency references, since despite the music and the broad coverage, they are not considered broadcasts (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SAUDI ARABIA. Sawt al-Buzz, 21505 at 1433 Oct 14 also with Arabic talk and // stronger unbuzzy 21640; different program, Qur`an on 21460. If I were in Sofia, Bulgaria, these would be strong enough to bear several combinations of intermodulation mixing products among them. At the moment BSKSA was dominant on 13m, while Spain was JBA on 21570, 21610; but BBC in on 21470; see CYPRUS (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [and non]. 5955 at 1329 Oct 14, VOA outroing Vietnamese, ``from Voice of America --- Washington``, open carrier for a semi-minute, then ``Welcome to the Voice of America in Khmai`` a.k.a. Khmer, all the while mixed with CRI English, but VOA on top. Take that, you ChiCom spoilers! Axually, CRI is aimed eastward from Beijing, and VOA aimed westward from Tinang, PHILIPPINES, so theoretically there is no collision. Tell that to the frustrated Oklahoman.
7575 until recently was a reliable VOA English frequency here in the mornings, but nothing audible Oct 14 at 1345; instead, VG signal on 7520. 7575 had been scheduled at 13-14 as 21 degrees usward from Tinang, but I don`t find 7520 on any schedules yet during that hour, so cannot be sure of site; could be Philippines, Thailand or NMI. IBB keeps swapping sites and frequencies around for no discernible reason; perhaps to demonstrate they are keeping busy in the office, and/or to keep the overseas operators on their toes.
Speaking of which, how is VOA doing now in coping with the unnecessary site-switch at 1430 in the middle of a continuous hour of News Now programming on 17585? Oct 14 at 1427 I start monitoring, with Today in History at 1428, in the clear from Greenville, nor anything audible on 17575 where Botswana might be warming up. At the very end of the 2-minute TIH feature, Greenville dropped carrier immediately at exactly the right instant; 5-7 seconds later on came weaker Botswana with a crash-start as VOA NN continued. Neither one played a sign-off or sign-on Yankee Doodle Dandy routine.
They have finally got it together, with my congratulations, just the way it should be done, and should have been done ever since A-09 started without any prompting from yours truly. However, there could be a relapse if uninformed personnel take over in shift changes, so be ever-vigilant (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 4800, no sign at 1325 Oct 14 of the MW harmonic(?) cutting on and off, nor at several later chex. They could at least let it go until we could ID it.
Assuming it was from Texas, due to the clear mention of Dallas-Fort Worth when I first heard it, but that could have been the origin of a networked program, and we know it`s not KRVA, in the Vietnamese Metroplex, the other 1600 kHz possibilities are KOGT in Orange, which per NRC AM Log 2009-2010 has a C&W format; KOKE Pflugerville, but that`s no match with Mexican;
OR --- a new station not yet on the air as of publication, in Dalhart, 3000/250 watts. That could fit for a new station still installing or adjusting equipment. Checking FCC AM Query, apparently not. No calls assigned yet, is still only a CP, and now with an application by Amy Meredith to change city of license to Vega, a town known to everyone who has driven I-40 west of Amarillo, while Dalhart is out of the way except for US-54, 87 or 385 travellers, in the extreme NW corner of the Panhandle. Could be she`s aiming to rimshot the huge Amarillo market; hope it doesn`t upmess the NWS TIS relay on 1610. Yes, tho day power reduced to 2.5 kW, pattern puts the major lobe toward AMA. But I digress (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 6760-6865, OTH radar, presumed, or rather at least two of them on adjacent ranges, with individual center peax, Oct 13 at 1332. As with all these OTHR logs, the exact edges are difficult to pin down, so consider the frequency ranges approximate (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 14632-14657, OTH radar pulses, presumed, Oct 14 at 1404. Also 17790-17815 in the middle of the 16m SWBC band! Oct 14 at 1432, primarily degrading WYFR 17795. Wolfgang Büschel says these ones covering 25 kHz are typical of the British facility on CYPRUS (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
