giovedì 15 ottobre 2009

Glenn Hauser logs October 15, 2009

** BRAZIL. Not much making it on 25m, Oct 15 at 0540, besides NZ on 11725 and 11670-11680 DRM, and a trace of NHK Russian on 11715 --- but weakly on 11925 definite Brazilian intonation from R. Bandeirantes; nothing on other possible Brazilian frequencies (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHINA. Firedrake Oct 15: at 1354, fair on 9000, poor on 8400, but much better to good level on 10210 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CUBA. RHC anomaly check Oct 15 at 0552: 6140 in English tonight, weak signal and weak phone ringing still audible in background, then I switched to better 6060 but phone also ringing there as `Ed Newman` was pre-offering RHC`s vaunted pocket calendar for 2010y, to be available shortly, so get your request in now! I used to get these, just one little card with Che or some other antihero on the obverse. I suppose it`s The Five Heroes now.

6010 English was good with no ringing, tough luck, Mr. Stendahl. 6120 and 6000 in Spanish also weaker than usual. 6060 was weak enough to be bothered by ACI from 6055 Spain, not usually the case in CNAm unlike ENAm, but that shortly closed down by 0556. Spy transmitter on 5800 at 0558 was open carrier with hum, no ringing or other extraneous sounds at the moment.

11760 spurs at multiples of plus and minus 51.2 kHz still running Oct 15 at 1409 check, worst at 11708.8 and 11811.2 producing identical 3.8 kHz hets against NHK via Canada on 11705 and NHK direct in Japanese on 11815. Some others audible: 11504, the lowest at 11452.8, the highest at 12067.2.

At 1500 on 11760, copied frequency announcement for the no longer secret midday transmission: 13760, 11760, 11800, 5965, 6000 in typical out-of-order Soviet-style. Trouble is, no signal on 11800, and heard at 1525 on unmentioned 11690 instead versus RTTY.

At RHC they only read what they are told, and no one has the initiative to turn on a radio and find out what frequencies are really in use. If they did, would they be disciplined by the dictatorship? Or are they really so demoralized that they don`t give a damn? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** INDIA. AIR Aligarh blob Oct 15 at 1355: centered close to nominal 9470, but covers 9460-9480 with extremely distorted modulation // 9425 but not exactly synchronized. After 1400 the main victim was KFBS on 9465 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** IRAN [non]. 17670, R. Farda via Wertachtal, GERMANY during this hour only, 1406 Oct 15 with clip of elected Pres. Obama opposing Iranian nuclear development, a PSA with musical produxion, and presumably translation (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** OMAN. 15140, R. Sultanate of Oman, Oct 15 at 1416 barely audible with western pop music, but not much left by 1430 when news in English should have started (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. Quick check of 90m, Oct 15 as late as 1333, found non // music audible on 3260, 3335 and 3385 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SAUDI ARABIA. 17660, Oct 15 at 1405 BSKSA with Qur`an, heavy flutter, shortly into French; nothing audible on 21 MHz band today. 1515 check, 17660 again Qur`aning, flutter (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. WRMI 9955 was as usual well-received during R. Prague relay of yesterday`s English after 1400 Oct 15, but at 1455 recheck, off the air, and did not return during following hour when Happy Station was on. Brought up web stream with a slight hum, and missed only the first few minutes of Keith Perron`s interview with Bob Zanotti, who among other things revealed, he said for the first time, that he was badly mistreated by management during the final months (years?) of Swiss Radio International, as they were trying to get him and other unwanted staff to resign; it even affected his health. Around 1549 also QRMed on the stream for less than a minute by a bit of Italian, presumably Studio DX starting to play for another unknown reason (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A [non]. VOA frequency usage quite different Oct 15 on 7 MHz band from what I had observed Oct 14. Are they confused, or just trying to lose listeners? Now at 1353, 7575 is back on in English but nothing on 7520; 7550 has a strong open carrier. At 1359, 7550 YDD sign-on, ``this is not a test``, Voice of America jingle, ``Inilah VOA``, therefore Indonesian service, and now 7575 is off. At 1512, I find that 7520 is on in the Spe-cial Eng-lish hour, with man-on-the-street at Washington Monument.

Another check Oct 15 of 17585 for the site hand-off from Greenville to Botswana at 1430: GB quite weak, but a break of about 6 seconds before Botswana comes on stronger, OK with no overlap (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A [nonish]. Since AFN Hawaii 10320-USB has been reported with music instead of talk network, checked Aug 15 at 1338 and found it not // talker Guam 5765-USB. At the moment Hawaii was also talk, in ``One Minute of American History`` about Wilson getting USA into WWI, the Zimmerman telegram warning that Mexico could be allied with The Kaiser, so be very afraid. On a somewhat lighter note, clip of a Hans & Franz routine in fake German accents, but no pump-you-upping. Immediately followed by a second OMOAH, then military PSAs, 1342 American Forces Network ID, and into C&W music show not // 5765. Next check at 1401 during some network newscast they were back // or almost, a syllable or so apart, and by 1413 check again separated with C&W on 10320, talk on 5765 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A [non]. 15715, strong signal but heavy flutter at 1518 Oct 15, instrumental hymns ``Were You There?`` and ``I Know My Redeemer Liveth``. What does PWBR `2009` say? CVC via Wertachtal. No, they`re modern stealth-evangelists, not playing hoary old hymns! At 1520 S Asian language announcement but clearly mentioning Family Radio, with Oakland address. Aoki say it`s 14-16 in Kannada, YFR via Wertachtal 500 kW at 90 degrees. WRTH A-09 update from May agrees. But EiBi says the first hour in English, the second in Kannada (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. Intruder in middle of 31m SWBC band, Oct 15 at 1453 on 9547.0 SSB, 2-way contact in Spanish (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. Over the Horizon radar pulses, presumably from Cyprus, Oct 15 at 1415 on 15990-16015; also at 1448 on 15490-15515, victimizing DW Russian via Rampisham on 15510, British military vs British civilians! The one straddling 16 MHz also still going. At 1523, more 25-kHz-wide OTHR 13605-13630, this one QRMing broadcaster on 13625, i.e. RFI Russian via Issoudun. Perhaps the French should retaliate from their own OTH radar near Paris against some BBC broadcast (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###