** ALASKA [and non]. KNLS on reactivated 6890 for the 1400 English broadcast, Oct 26 at 1430, just very poor in music and so presumed, but what else? It was better before 1400 in Chinese, and there is a beam change between them from 300 to 270 degrees. At least 6890 is not likely to collide with anything, and may improve here on better days. Or 6915 for the 12-13 English prepeat, also due west from Anchor Point.
You would never know this on a Mercator, but obviously on a globe, the 270 degree azimuth from Anchor Point goes a few degrees east of Tokyo and close to Cebu, but mostly over water. In case there is an equivalent minor lobe directly off the back, 90 degrees from there enters the Lower 48 at the NW corner of North Dakota, crosses near St Louis, Nashville, Atlanta, down the east coast of FL, to Nassau. Nashville? Perhaps that is no coincidence, as it is KNLS HQ at World Christian Broadcasting. Hmmm, how`s their Madagascar project, delayed by the coup, coming along?
While we`re at it, how about KNLS` 300-degree azimuth and its reciprocal 120? 300 goes pretty far west in China, centered on Lingshi, missing the hugely populated eastern regions, but presumably the beam is pretty broad by then. 120 skirts the CA/NV border, and down the west coast of mainland Mexico, so both are about the same angle away from Enid.
However the 300 degree antenna can be slewed to 285 for some of the Chinese broadcasts, such as 13-16 on 7355, so that`s close to us backwards. And to 315 for some of the Russian. In fact, 270, 285 and 315 are all slews from the primary azimuth of 300 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ALBANIA. R. Tirana`s B-season frequency, 13640 doing well on the first day of English at timeshifted 1530: Oct 29 carrier already on the air at 1524. IS started at 1528:30, modulation lo-fi and distorted like from a worn-out tape. 1530 YL announces new transmission schedule dated 25th of October 2009 to 27th of March, 2010, as always at the beginning of each broadcast taking a couple of minutes:
``UK and USA at 1945-2000 on 7465, 11635
UK at 2100-2130 on 7520
USA at:
1530-1600 13640
2100-2130 9895
0130-0145 7425
0245-0300 7425
0330-0400 6150
0430-0500 6100
To Europe Monday-Saturday, to North America Monday-Sunday.``
Otherwise Canadians must consider themselves adjuncts of the USA. Monday-Sunday? This is misleading. In UT terms, the first broadcast at 1530 is on Monday, and the last one at 0430 is on UT Sunday. But there are no broadcasts in English between 0500 UT Sunday and 1530 Monday, a 34.5-hour gap.
At 1540 there was an item about a meeting in Vienna evaluating Albania`s parliamentary elexions this year, the US ambassador saying allegations of irregularities were groundless, as the socialist opposition had been claiming. Occasional chirps of interference were heard, unknown source. Cuban splatter? Spread-spectrum, or some other utility? At least CODAR does not normally reach this high above 13600.
The 1945 frequencies were not making it here Oct 26, except for traces of carriers. We assume they are good in Europe and perhaps in eastern NAm, and may improve here as winter oncomes. No better at 2100, I am afraid: trace on 7520, nothing audible on 9895.
Radio Tirana will be eager to hear from listeners how these and all their language broadcasts are coming thru, any unexpected interference problems, etc.? Note that the 0330 has been shifted from 6110 used last winter, to avoid Ethiopia, but is 6150 really clear now? And is there any residual DentroCuban jamming on 6100 at 0430? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** AUSTRALIA [and non]. RA`s Innovations, Monday Oct 26 at 1345 on 9580 and 9590, had an interesting item about photonic chips, but I had to keep bandscanning, so here`s the transcript: http://www.abc.net.au/ra/innovations/stories/s2705119.htm
and the podcast, with that topic following several others: http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/ra/podcast/innovations/innovations_20091026.mp3
RA is still closing its best frequency toward NAm, 70 degrees from Shepparton on 9580, at 1357, while continuing 30 degrees toward Alaska on 9590 until 1600. Now I hear Vietnamese on 9580 at 1438, which is BBC via Singapore at 13 degrees, but this frequency starts at 1345 in Burmese at 340 degrees, so that could also QRM RA here (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake Oct 26: at 1355, 8400 // 9000 // 10210, fair signals on all (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA [and non]. It`s B-season again, so WYFR resumes colliding with RHC on 6000. WYFR now scheduled 0500-1000 at 181 degrees, and at 0611 Oct 26, Camping in English could be heard droning atop RHC in Spanish, the latter // 6120, while music in RHC English service was on much stronger 6010, 6060, 6140. Phone ringing could also still be detected on 6140. Since RHC refuses to participate in HFCC, WYFR can safely pretend RHC is not there, but both audible with weak signals here on 6000.
It appears RadioCuba has been working on the RHC 11760 spur problem --- or is it just random variation? Oct 26 at 1333, instead of the modulation and whine on the closest ones, I was just hearing some continuous noise bursts circa 11708 and 11812, also weaker around 11866, 11656 and 11604 but none further afield.
At 1506 the 11760 spurs were showing up again circa 11811.6, not only whine but audio again, and somewhere around 11970, but before I could start to nail them, gone again and all previous spurspots clear. Loose connexion? At 1527 the spurs cut back on again, now also putting a buzz on Anguilla 11775; at 1529 there was a buzz circa 11722 cutting on and off
12134.0 with cut numbers in true CW, Oct 26 at 1407, ruining reception of AFN 12133.5 from Florida.
Commies vs Commies: in B-09, RHC`s weak signal on 13680 finds itself abutting very strong CRI via Sackville on 13675 and overcome by it, Oct 26 at 1411, as now scheduled 14-16 in English, then Chinese, with Austria 16-17 relayed as well. Weak 13680 still losing out underneath CRI Sackville 13675 spread at next check 1512.
R. Martí continues to be very loud and clear in OK, for what that`s worth, aimed at Cuba from Greenville roughly 90 degrees offbeam, on reactivated 15330 at 1418 Oct 26; no jamming detectable, while vacated 11845 still bore pulses. However at next check 1522, there were signs of noise jamming beneath RM on 15330.
A standard tactic of jammed services is to be sure to use the highest frequency that will propagate to the target, as jamming is less effective against it. Remember when RM used 17 and even 21 MHz? All Cuba can do is run multiple short-range groundwave jammers in every possible city, as the skip distance on skywave at 15+ MHz is too great to jam effectively from one end of the country to the other, altho that does not keep them from trying.
Look for Venezuela to clandestinely coöperate with Cuba as an ideally placed jamming site just far enough away. I would not be surprised if some secret extra transmitters for this very purpose go into the new Guárico site for RNV, which is supposedly due to start up by December.
Meanwhile, the DentroCuban jamming command continues wasting its resources, while the Cuban people have to subsist on rationed food. Altho R. Prague relay via WRMI 9955 was clear of jamming around 1410 Oct 26, at next check 1428 during the irrelevant R. Prague French schedule announcement, it was already being overcome by grinding jamming, building up more and more during the following semihour so that the DX program in Italian, Studio DX with Roberto Scaglione, could not corrupt any DentroCuban would-be listeners, even tho it`s on WRMI`s NW antenna USward.
I was all set to monitor RHC`s frequency announcement around 1500 in case there has been any change, and also to hear their timecheck which should now be 10 am instead of 11 am [see discussion under MEXICO]. Unfortunately, I picked 13780 to listen to, and that cut off at 1459 just before the upcoming frequencies could be announced! Quickly retuned to 11760 but that was already off. Perpetually distorted 11800 still on, but by then the announcement was over and it went to open carrier. Just before 1501, 11760 came back on, with modulation cutting off and on. Meanwhile RNV was loud and steady on 11680 in English intro (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GREECE. I spoke too early Oct 25, or should I say too late, that Miraya FM via Slovakia was safe on 15650 from 1500, since Greece was on 15630 when checked at 1551. Axually, per the B-09 sked via John Babbis, VOG switches from 15650 to 15630 at 1550, and so on Oct 26 I was indeed hearing Greece atop Miraya on 15650 at 1515, producing a fast SAH. Recheck 1543, Greek music still atop Miraya. Last spring, IRRS maintained that there was no problem with this collision in their Sudanese target area, but there sure is here, and no doubt where the paths cross around the Mediterranean (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDIA. AIR National Channel, Aligarh, *apparently* has finally got rid of the horrible distorted wideband transmission from the unit supposed to be on 9470, which had been ongoing at least since August. They indicated to Alok Dasgupta that this could be done with B-09 season changes, using a different transmitter for the service, as they had already started doing after 1600. Let`s hope the defective one does not show up anywhere else!
Oct 26 at 1353, weak but non-distorted signal on 9470 unsynchronized, slightly ahead of // 9425 Bengaluru. AIR 9470 signal was so nominal that intermittent Russian-style tone tests could be heard mixing, evidently warming up to start something at 1400, and indeed VOR from Moscow southward is scheduled at 1400-1800.
AIR 9470 became weaker and weaker, so also checked AIR on 9425 later.
At 1434 news by YL in English audible on both, 1435 Hindi announcement and music, then ``Hello, and a very warm welcome to. . .``, could not catch to what, but into rock music. On 9425 there were split-second audio dropouts occasionally. Next check at 1534, 9470 was inaudible, 9425 with flutter, once again YL news in English, but this cast is longer, with mid-ID at 1538 and more news.
Meanwhile I was enjoying the music on VBS 9870 altho one 2-minute segment at 1451 annoyingly consisted just of clips and exhortations --- the Indian equivalent of K-TEL? Finally we got a full song at 1453 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. VOI on 9525.9, Oct 26 at 1350 during the English hour, but just barely modulated with music. Also gets het from 9530 when something is on there (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** IRAN [non]. Again this B-season, 15410 resumes as a good spot to listen to Radio Farda. Oct 26 at 1518, pop song in English, maybe Morrison from the Doors? But tape snagging occasionally, pitch dropping (so it`s a playback problem rather than a recording problem, since tape snagging then would produce increased pitch on playback). 1521 YL mentions Farda, then Persian rap. At 14-16 Farda is via Skelton UK, 300 kW at 95 degrees, but 15410 also in use 11-12 from Biblis, 100 kW, 85 degrees, and 12-14 Lampertheim, 100 kW, 77 degrees (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** JAPAN [and non]. NHKWNRJ on new 5955, Oct 26 at 1404 in English news, running two words ahead of Sackville relay on 11705. 5955 is Yamata at 230 degrees. I am no longer noticing a pre-echo on 11705, from // Yamata direct, and guess what: 5955 apparently replaces 11705, as same target and azimuth for both, CIRAF 49, 50, 54 at 235 degrees, also with Indonesian at 1315-1400 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KOREA NORTH [non]. Tnx to Ron Howard info, found Shiokaze, clandestine from Japan on new 5985, ex-5910, Monday Oct 26 at 1401 with usual piano music, Japanese announcements, IDs in passing. No sign of Myanmar here, which Ron laments will collide in Asia as well as California, but then we never heard Myanmar before Shiokaze barged in (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO [and non]. 6185, XEPPM, Oct 26 at 0604 playing Mexican national anthem. Therefore, must be back on standard time (local midnight CST) a week before El Norte! How inconvenient. Mexico also started on April 5, four weeks after USA March 8, so only one week of confusion in the fall is a blessing.
While we`re at it, consulted http://www.timeanddate.com/time/dst2009b.html
and found that the only countries moving in lockstep with the USA by ending DST on Nov 1 are: [most of] Canada, St Pierre & Miquelon, Bermuda, Turks & Caicos --- AND: Pakistan, Syria! We understand how Islamabad would want to keep in step with Washington, but Damascus?
Cuba also reverted to EST on Oct 25 altho it did start DST with US March 8, as easily uplooked in this version http://www.timeanddate.com/time/dst2009.html which could be for no other reason than to keep in step with the gusanos in Miami, at least in the spring. Local zoneshifts, however do not affect timings of RHC external broadcasts, but they should be giving UT-5 timechex now. Plenty of other aberrations do affect their scheduling!
Radio Educación was mixing at 0605 with Vatican Radio in some Scandinavian language on 6185, producing a fast SAH since XEPPM is off-frequency. Now that collision runs all the way from 0300 to 0620. Since Mexico does not participate in HFCC, how is Vatican to know XEPPM even exists? Mexican/Catholic relations have always been problematical (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NETHERLANDS [non]. Looks like 21525 to W Africa from Bonaire might work back here in N America for us recalcitrant SWLs on a good afternoon, as we used to listen to the W African service out of Bonaire on 17 MHz. But how can three programs all be at 2000 UT Mondays on the same frequencies as given in this week`s RNW program previews newsletter?
Andy Sennitt links us instead to the 24-hour playout schedule which should be correct:
http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/hour-hour-programme-guide
So here`s how: ``2000`` does not really mean 2000, but sometime during the following hour, and the shows have been shortened so three of them fit into less than hour:
2000-2015 News/Newsline
2015-2035 Curious Orange
2036-2056 Network Europe Week
21525 was coming in OK Oct 26 at the start of the hour, S9+10 but with fading. It`s 250 kW, 90 degrees from Bonaire. So was 11655, which is 250 kW, 295 degrees from Madagascar with less fading, also in use from 1800 to 1957 in English at 300 degrees.
In order to serve C & W Africa from Madagascar, RNW can`t help but send these signals toward NAm too, much as they would wish not to. 295 is centered on St Louis, Sénégal at the Mauritanian border, and former site of Mauritania`s extraterritorial SW service shortly after independence before Nouakchott was set up; after all, it had all been French West Africa. This beam transits the Atlantic, and then crosses near Jacksonville, New Orleans and Houston.
300 degrees enters our continent around Wilmington, onward to The Metroplex, closer to OK, but from that far away it has spread out so much that 5 or 10 degrees difference does not matter much (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NEW ZEALAND. RNZI had to stick with 6170 instead of planned 7440 at 13-16 in B-09 because of IBB via Sri Lanka in Urdu on 7440. And now 6170 has more interference besides the tiny Filipino on 6170.4. Oct 26 at 1431, 6170 had Chinese co-channel with SAH, while nothing was audible here on 7440. However, it`s not China to blame this time, but instead VOR, which per Aoki is now running 6170 at 11-15 due west via Khabarovsk in Chinese and Mongolian. RNZI should keep looking for an acceptable clear channel on the 7 MHz band, which ought to reach NAm later and better too (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** PORTUGAL. 15690 now with RDPI, Oct 26 at 1514 mentioning Emissora Nacional, modulation distorted. This is the best we can do on weekday mornings in NAm for RDPI reception, as 15560 runs toward us only on weekends, and if there is something `special` (like a football game) on a weekday, unlikely. Per the B-09 sked via Carlos Gonçalves in DXLD 9-077, 15690 is really toward India and Mideast, M-F at 14-16 with the 300 kW São Gabriel transmitter necessarily cut back to only 100 kW on this particular antenna azimuth, 81.5 degrees, and only a fraxion of that USward (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** RUSSIA [and non]. Another check of R. Rossii, Pet/Kam on 6075, Oct 26: at 1358 still motorboating, and co-channel QRM to boot in Chinese. At 1400 two very out-of-synch timesignals mixing a few sex apart; one seemed 6 pips, the other 5+1, i.e. the last one higher and/or longer. Again no sign of VVV marker on CW from 8GAL on 6074. Then the Chinese continues on 6075. Ron Howard confirms it`s CNR1 jamming from *1355 against Taiwan from 1400 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SAIPAN [and non]. VOA, 9705, which was a big distorted mess Oct 25, had been fixed Oct 26, 1341 in Cantonese, regular bandwidth and modulation, and allowing het from Ethiopia 9704v to be reaudible too (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SAUDI ARABIA. Awful loud wideband buzz proclaiming to the world the incompetence of the kingdom`s engineering, 15435 but spreading 15420-15450, Oct 26 at 1512 with Arabic modulation JBA underneath. Same was audible weaker before 1500 on 21505. At 1526, I found one BSKSA transmitter still running on 13m, Qur`an on 21460, and not // clear 15225 which was presumably // the other service on 15420-15450. Riyadh 21460 is scheduled until 1600; 21505 and 21640 until 1500 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. Brother Scare is being heard again as the main speaker on The Overcomer Ministry, and has again replaced The University Network on WWCR 13845! Oct 26 at 1412 as I was noting WEWN QRMary from spurry 13835, there`s BS again instead of PMS or DGS. At the moment he was saying he was ``going thru a personal crisis``, whatever that means. (Perhaps has been diagnosed with terminal hoarseness or dementia?) No, he adds it`s an ``attack from Satan``. This was running 9 seconds ahead of WWRB 9385. Is it still BS for a semi-day on WWCR, then back to DGS? Looks that way; next check at 1802, PMS was back on 13845, unknown when the switch.
Also found B.S. on 17485, good signal at 1550 Oct 26. With Jülich defunct and about to be scrapped(?), for B-09 this transmission has been switched to due south from Wertachtal, daily at 15-16. Since he never learned how to pronounce Jülich any way but ``Jew-lick``, what will he do with Wertachtal if he ever tries to say that? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN [and non]. 11815 at 1501 Oct 26 collision between REE Costa Rica still running IS until off at 1502* and another station with folk music, which must be V. of Turkey as sked in Turkish via Çakirlar at 14-17, 320 degrees to Europe and consequently NAm beyond. Note to SW station operators: avoid keeping your transmission on a few minutes beyond scheduled closing, especially if colliding with another station. Of course in this case they were already clashing for over an hour.
REE holding up on 13m, as late as 1553 Oct 26, better on 21570 than // 21610; Libya also in on 21695 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TURKEY. Another check of VOT`s English broadcast retimed to 1330, Oct 26: 12035 now correctly in English with news by YL, fair signal, and better than // 15300 which had a fast SAH mixing with France. Another check at 1406 found non-Turkish music on 12035, stronger than 15300 still with CCI, but clear on 12035 so maybe VOR is not really active on the latter from 1400 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also SPAIN [and non]
** U S A. WEWN on new 13835, Oct 26 at 1412, VG signal at 335 degrees with YL priest, er, preacher, bad news for WWCR 13845, since the 13835 transmitter is the one with the spurs, mushing up 13845; however I could not detect a match on 13825, maybe too much Martí from 13820. WEWN now scheduled on 13835 at 13-15, but already off at 1457 check, moving English to next frequency 15610. See also SOUTH CAROLINA [non] (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 11695, Oct 26 at 1332, chime IS and IDs as ``International Voice of Trans World Radio``, but no site or calls given. VG signal separable from RTTY circa 11688. Figured I could easily look it up later, but no sign of KTWR or some TWR on or near this frequency in Aoki B-09, nor on any TWR regional schedule I can find. Testing for a new service? From good steady signal, most likely Guam. I see that VOA Vietnamese via Tinang, Philippines is scheduled until 1330 on 11695 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 11789.9 USB, Asian-language 2-way communications again being heard intruding in the middle of the 25m SWBC band, Oct 26 at 1547 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 13730, circa 1 kHz tone test at 1542 Oct 26. Figured it might be Austria, whose schedule has been open to question in B-09, but they supposedly quit the frequency now at 1400; could be Wertachtal, but it too should not be daily or after 1500 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
You would never know this on a Mercator, but obviously on a globe, the 270 degree azimuth from Anchor Point goes a few degrees east of Tokyo and close to Cebu, but mostly over water. In case there is an equivalent minor lobe directly off the back, 90 degrees from there enters the Lower 48 at the NW corner of North Dakota, crosses near St Louis, Nashville, Atlanta, down the east coast of FL, to Nassau. Nashville? Perhaps that is no coincidence, as it is KNLS HQ at World Christian Broadcasting. Hmmm, how`s their Madagascar project, delayed by the coup, coming along?
While we`re at it, how about KNLS` 300-degree azimuth and its reciprocal 120? 300 goes pretty far west in China, centered on Lingshi, missing the hugely populated eastern regions, but presumably the beam is pretty broad by then. 120 skirts the CA/NV border, and down the west coast of mainland Mexico, so both are about the same angle away from Enid.
However the 300 degree antenna can be slewed to 285 for some of the Chinese broadcasts, such as 13-16 on 7355, so that`s close to us backwards. And to 315 for some of the Russian. In fact, 270, 285 and 315 are all slews from the primary azimuth of 300 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ALBANIA. R. Tirana`s B-season frequency, 13640 doing well on the first day of English at timeshifted 1530: Oct 29 carrier already on the air at 1524. IS started at 1528:30, modulation lo-fi and distorted like from a worn-out tape. 1530 YL announces new transmission schedule dated 25th of October 2009 to 27th of March, 2010, as always at the beginning of each broadcast taking a couple of minutes:
``UK and USA at 1945-2000 on 7465, 11635
UK at 2100-2130 on 7520
USA at:
1530-1600 13640
2100-2130 9895
0130-0145 7425
0245-0300 7425
0330-0400 6150
0430-0500 6100
To Europe Monday-Saturday, to North America Monday-Sunday.``
Otherwise Canadians must consider themselves adjuncts of the USA. Monday-Sunday? This is misleading. In UT terms, the first broadcast at 1530 is on Monday, and the last one at 0430 is on UT Sunday. But there are no broadcasts in English between 0500 UT Sunday and 1530 Monday, a 34.5-hour gap.
At 1540 there was an item about a meeting in Vienna evaluating Albania`s parliamentary elexions this year, the US ambassador saying allegations of irregularities were groundless, as the socialist opposition had been claiming. Occasional chirps of interference were heard, unknown source. Cuban splatter? Spread-spectrum, or some other utility? At least CODAR does not normally reach this high above 13600.
The 1945 frequencies were not making it here Oct 26, except for traces of carriers. We assume they are good in Europe and perhaps in eastern NAm, and may improve here as winter oncomes. No better at 2100, I am afraid: trace on 7520, nothing audible on 9895.
Radio Tirana will be eager to hear from listeners how these and all their language broadcasts are coming thru, any unexpected interference problems, etc.? Note that the 0330 has been shifted from 6110 used last winter, to avoid Ethiopia, but is 6150 really clear now? And is there any residual DentroCuban jamming on 6100 at 0430? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** AUSTRALIA [and non]. RA`s Innovations, Monday Oct 26 at 1345 on 9580 and 9590, had an interesting item about photonic chips, but I had to keep bandscanning, so here`s the transcript: http://www.abc.net.au/ra/innovations/stories/s2705119.htm
and the podcast, with that topic following several others: http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/ra/podcast/innovations/innovations_20091026.mp3
RA is still closing its best frequency toward NAm, 70 degrees from Shepparton on 9580, at 1357, while continuing 30 degrees toward Alaska on 9590 until 1600. Now I hear Vietnamese on 9580 at 1438, which is BBC via Singapore at 13 degrees, but this frequency starts at 1345 in Burmese at 340 degrees, so that could also QRM RA here (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake Oct 26: at 1355, 8400 // 9000 // 10210, fair signals on all (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA [and non]. It`s B-season again, so WYFR resumes colliding with RHC on 6000. WYFR now scheduled 0500-1000 at 181 degrees, and at 0611 Oct 26, Camping in English could be heard droning atop RHC in Spanish, the latter // 6120, while music in RHC English service was on much stronger 6010, 6060, 6140. Phone ringing could also still be detected on 6140. Since RHC refuses to participate in HFCC, WYFR can safely pretend RHC is not there, but both audible with weak signals here on 6000.
It appears RadioCuba has been working on the RHC 11760 spur problem --- or is it just random variation? Oct 26 at 1333, instead of the modulation and whine on the closest ones, I was just hearing some continuous noise bursts circa 11708 and 11812, also weaker around 11866, 11656 and 11604 but none further afield.
At 1506 the 11760 spurs were showing up again circa 11811.6, not only whine but audio again, and somewhere around 11970, but before I could start to nail them, gone again and all previous spurspots clear. Loose connexion? At 1527 the spurs cut back on again, now also putting a buzz on Anguilla 11775; at 1529 there was a buzz circa 11722 cutting on and off
12134.0 with cut numbers in true CW, Oct 26 at 1407, ruining reception of AFN 12133.5 from Florida.
Commies vs Commies: in B-09, RHC`s weak signal on 13680 finds itself abutting very strong CRI via Sackville on 13675 and overcome by it, Oct 26 at 1411, as now scheduled 14-16 in English, then Chinese, with Austria 16-17 relayed as well. Weak 13680 still losing out underneath CRI Sackville 13675 spread at next check 1512.
R. Martí continues to be very loud and clear in OK, for what that`s worth, aimed at Cuba from Greenville roughly 90 degrees offbeam, on reactivated 15330 at 1418 Oct 26; no jamming detectable, while vacated 11845 still bore pulses. However at next check 1522, there were signs of noise jamming beneath RM on 15330.
A standard tactic of jammed services is to be sure to use the highest frequency that will propagate to the target, as jamming is less effective against it. Remember when RM used 17 and even 21 MHz? All Cuba can do is run multiple short-range groundwave jammers in every possible city, as the skip distance on skywave at 15+ MHz is too great to jam effectively from one end of the country to the other, altho that does not keep them from trying.
Look for Venezuela to clandestinely coöperate with Cuba as an ideally placed jamming site just far enough away. I would not be surprised if some secret extra transmitters for this very purpose go into the new Guárico site for RNV, which is supposedly due to start up by December.
Meanwhile, the DentroCuban jamming command continues wasting its resources, while the Cuban people have to subsist on rationed food. Altho R. Prague relay via WRMI 9955 was clear of jamming around 1410 Oct 26, at next check 1428 during the irrelevant R. Prague French schedule announcement, it was already being overcome by grinding jamming, building up more and more during the following semihour so that the DX program in Italian, Studio DX with Roberto Scaglione, could not corrupt any DentroCuban would-be listeners, even tho it`s on WRMI`s NW antenna USward.
I was all set to monitor RHC`s frequency announcement around 1500 in case there has been any change, and also to hear their timecheck which should now be 10 am instead of 11 am [see discussion under MEXICO]. Unfortunately, I picked 13780 to listen to, and that cut off at 1459 just before the upcoming frequencies could be announced! Quickly retuned to 11760 but that was already off. Perpetually distorted 11800 still on, but by then the announcement was over and it went to open carrier. Just before 1501, 11760 came back on, with modulation cutting off and on. Meanwhile RNV was loud and steady on 11680 in English intro (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GREECE. I spoke too early Oct 25, or should I say too late, that Miraya FM via Slovakia was safe on 15650 from 1500, since Greece was on 15630 when checked at 1551. Axually, per the B-09 sked via John Babbis, VOG switches from 15650 to 15630 at 1550, and so on Oct 26 I was indeed hearing Greece atop Miraya on 15650 at 1515, producing a fast SAH. Recheck 1543, Greek music still atop Miraya. Last spring, IRRS maintained that there was no problem with this collision in their Sudanese target area, but there sure is here, and no doubt where the paths cross around the Mediterranean (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDIA. AIR National Channel, Aligarh, *apparently* has finally got rid of the horrible distorted wideband transmission from the unit supposed to be on 9470, which had been ongoing at least since August. They indicated to Alok Dasgupta that this could be done with B-09 season changes, using a different transmitter for the service, as they had already started doing after 1600. Let`s hope the defective one does not show up anywhere else!
Oct 26 at 1353, weak but non-distorted signal on 9470 unsynchronized, slightly ahead of // 9425 Bengaluru. AIR 9470 signal was so nominal that intermittent Russian-style tone tests could be heard mixing, evidently warming up to start something at 1400, and indeed VOR from Moscow southward is scheduled at 1400-1800.
AIR 9470 became weaker and weaker, so also checked AIR on 9425 later.
At 1434 news by YL in English audible on both, 1435 Hindi announcement and music, then ``Hello, and a very warm welcome to. . .``, could not catch to what, but into rock music. On 9425 there were split-second audio dropouts occasionally. Next check at 1534, 9470 was inaudible, 9425 with flutter, once again YL news in English, but this cast is longer, with mid-ID at 1538 and more news.
Meanwhile I was enjoying the music on VBS 9870 altho one 2-minute segment at 1451 annoyingly consisted just of clips and exhortations --- the Indian equivalent of K-TEL? Finally we got a full song at 1453 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. VOI on 9525.9, Oct 26 at 1350 during the English hour, but just barely modulated with music. Also gets het from 9530 when something is on there (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** IRAN [non]. Again this B-season, 15410 resumes as a good spot to listen to Radio Farda. Oct 26 at 1518, pop song in English, maybe Morrison from the Doors? But tape snagging occasionally, pitch dropping (so it`s a playback problem rather than a recording problem, since tape snagging then would produce increased pitch on playback). 1521 YL mentions Farda, then Persian rap. At 14-16 Farda is via Skelton UK, 300 kW at 95 degrees, but 15410 also in use 11-12 from Biblis, 100 kW, 85 degrees, and 12-14 Lampertheim, 100 kW, 77 degrees (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** JAPAN [and non]. NHKWNRJ on new 5955, Oct 26 at 1404 in English news, running two words ahead of Sackville relay on 11705. 5955 is Yamata at 230 degrees. I am no longer noticing a pre-echo on 11705, from // Yamata direct, and guess what: 5955 apparently replaces 11705, as same target and azimuth for both, CIRAF 49, 50, 54 at 235 degrees, also with Indonesian at 1315-1400 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KOREA NORTH [non]. Tnx to Ron Howard info, found Shiokaze, clandestine from Japan on new 5985, ex-5910, Monday Oct 26 at 1401 with usual piano music, Japanese announcements, IDs in passing. No sign of Myanmar here, which Ron laments will collide in Asia as well as California, but then we never heard Myanmar before Shiokaze barged in (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO [and non]. 6185, XEPPM, Oct 26 at 0604 playing Mexican national anthem. Therefore, must be back on standard time (local midnight CST) a week before El Norte! How inconvenient. Mexico also started on April 5, four weeks after USA March 8, so only one week of confusion in the fall is a blessing.
While we`re at it, consulted http://www.timeanddate.com/time/dst2009b.html
and found that the only countries moving in lockstep with the USA by ending DST on Nov 1 are: [most of] Canada, St Pierre & Miquelon, Bermuda, Turks & Caicos --- AND: Pakistan, Syria! We understand how Islamabad would want to keep in step with Washington, but Damascus?
Cuba also reverted to EST on Oct 25 altho it did start DST with US March 8, as easily uplooked in this version http://www.timeanddate.com/time/dst2009.html which could be for no other reason than to keep in step with the gusanos in Miami, at least in the spring. Local zoneshifts, however do not affect timings of RHC external broadcasts, but they should be giving UT-5 timechex now. Plenty of other aberrations do affect their scheduling!
Radio Educación was mixing at 0605 with Vatican Radio in some Scandinavian language on 6185, producing a fast SAH since XEPPM is off-frequency. Now that collision runs all the way from 0300 to 0620. Since Mexico does not participate in HFCC, how is Vatican to know XEPPM even exists? Mexican/Catholic relations have always been problematical (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NETHERLANDS [non]. Looks like 21525 to W Africa from Bonaire might work back here in N America for us recalcitrant SWLs on a good afternoon, as we used to listen to the W African service out of Bonaire on 17 MHz. But how can three programs all be at 2000 UT Mondays on the same frequencies as given in this week`s RNW program previews newsletter?
Andy Sennitt links us instead to the 24-hour playout schedule which should be correct:
http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/hour-hour-programme-guide
So here`s how: ``2000`` does not really mean 2000, but sometime during the following hour, and the shows have been shortened so three of them fit into less than hour:
2000-2015 News/Newsline
2015-2035 Curious Orange
2036-2056 Network Europe Week
21525 was coming in OK Oct 26 at the start of the hour, S9+10 but with fading. It`s 250 kW, 90 degrees from Bonaire. So was 11655, which is 250 kW, 295 degrees from Madagascar with less fading, also in use from 1800 to 1957 in English at 300 degrees.
In order to serve C & W Africa from Madagascar, RNW can`t help but send these signals toward NAm too, much as they would wish not to. 295 is centered on St Louis, Sénégal at the Mauritanian border, and former site of Mauritania`s extraterritorial SW service shortly after independence before Nouakchott was set up; after all, it had all been French West Africa. This beam transits the Atlantic, and then crosses near Jacksonville, New Orleans and Houston.
300 degrees enters our continent around Wilmington, onward to The Metroplex, closer to OK, but from that far away it has spread out so much that 5 or 10 degrees difference does not matter much (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NEW ZEALAND. RNZI had to stick with 6170 instead of planned 7440 at 13-16 in B-09 because of IBB via Sri Lanka in Urdu on 7440. And now 6170 has more interference besides the tiny Filipino on 6170.4. Oct 26 at 1431, 6170 had Chinese co-channel with SAH, while nothing was audible here on 7440. However, it`s not China to blame this time, but instead VOR, which per Aoki is now running 6170 at 11-15 due west via Khabarovsk in Chinese and Mongolian. RNZI should keep looking for an acceptable clear channel on the 7 MHz band, which ought to reach NAm later and better too (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** PORTUGAL. 15690 now with RDPI, Oct 26 at 1514 mentioning Emissora Nacional, modulation distorted. This is the best we can do on weekday mornings in NAm for RDPI reception, as 15560 runs toward us only on weekends, and if there is something `special` (like a football game) on a weekday, unlikely. Per the B-09 sked via Carlos Gonçalves in DXLD 9-077, 15690 is really toward India and Mideast, M-F at 14-16 with the 300 kW São Gabriel transmitter necessarily cut back to only 100 kW on this particular antenna azimuth, 81.5 degrees, and only a fraxion of that USward (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** RUSSIA [and non]. Another check of R. Rossii, Pet/Kam on 6075, Oct 26: at 1358 still motorboating, and co-channel QRM to boot in Chinese. At 1400 two very out-of-synch timesignals mixing a few sex apart; one seemed 6 pips, the other 5+1, i.e. the last one higher and/or longer. Again no sign of VVV marker on CW from 8GAL on 6074. Then the Chinese continues on 6075. Ron Howard confirms it`s CNR1 jamming from *1355 against Taiwan from 1400 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SAIPAN [and non]. VOA, 9705, which was a big distorted mess Oct 25, had been fixed Oct 26, 1341 in Cantonese, regular bandwidth and modulation, and allowing het from Ethiopia 9704v to be reaudible too (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SAUDI ARABIA. Awful loud wideband buzz proclaiming to the world the incompetence of the kingdom`s engineering, 15435 but spreading 15420-15450, Oct 26 at 1512 with Arabic modulation JBA underneath. Same was audible weaker before 1500 on 21505. At 1526, I found one BSKSA transmitter still running on 13m, Qur`an on 21460, and not // clear 15225 which was presumably // the other service on 15420-15450. Riyadh 21460 is scheduled until 1600; 21505 and 21640 until 1500 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. Brother Scare is being heard again as the main speaker on The Overcomer Ministry, and has again replaced The University Network on WWCR 13845! Oct 26 at 1412 as I was noting WEWN QRMary from spurry 13835, there`s BS again instead of PMS or DGS. At the moment he was saying he was ``going thru a personal crisis``, whatever that means. (Perhaps has been diagnosed with terminal hoarseness or dementia?) No, he adds it`s an ``attack from Satan``. This was running 9 seconds ahead of WWRB 9385. Is it still BS for a semi-day on WWCR, then back to DGS? Looks that way; next check at 1802, PMS was back on 13845, unknown when the switch.
Also found B.S. on 17485, good signal at 1550 Oct 26. With Jülich defunct and about to be scrapped(?), for B-09 this transmission has been switched to due south from Wertachtal, daily at 15-16. Since he never learned how to pronounce Jülich any way but ``Jew-lick``, what will he do with Wertachtal if he ever tries to say that? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN [and non]. 11815 at 1501 Oct 26 collision between REE Costa Rica still running IS until off at 1502* and another station with folk music, which must be V. of Turkey as sked in Turkish via Çakirlar at 14-17, 320 degrees to Europe and consequently NAm beyond. Note to SW station operators: avoid keeping your transmission on a few minutes beyond scheduled closing, especially if colliding with another station. Of course in this case they were already clashing for over an hour.
REE holding up on 13m, as late as 1553 Oct 26, better on 21570 than // 21610; Libya also in on 21695 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TURKEY. Another check of VOT`s English broadcast retimed to 1330, Oct 26: 12035 now correctly in English with news by YL, fair signal, and better than // 15300 which had a fast SAH mixing with France. Another check at 1406 found non-Turkish music on 12035, stronger than 15300 still with CCI, but clear on 12035 so maybe VOR is not really active on the latter from 1400 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also SPAIN [and non]
** U S A. WEWN on new 13835, Oct 26 at 1412, VG signal at 335 degrees with YL priest, er, preacher, bad news for WWCR 13845, since the 13835 transmitter is the one with the spurs, mushing up 13845; however I could not detect a match on 13825, maybe too much Martí from 13820. WEWN now scheduled on 13835 at 13-15, but already off at 1457 check, moving English to next frequency 15610. See also SOUTH CAROLINA [non] (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 11695, Oct 26 at 1332, chime IS and IDs as ``International Voice of Trans World Radio``, but no site or calls given. VG signal separable from RTTY circa 11688. Figured I could easily look it up later, but no sign of KTWR or some TWR on or near this frequency in Aoki B-09, nor on any TWR regional schedule I can find. Testing for a new service? From good steady signal, most likely Guam. I see that VOA Vietnamese via Tinang, Philippines is scheduled until 1330 on 11695 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 11789.9 USB, Asian-language 2-way communications again being heard intruding in the middle of the 25m SWBC band, Oct 26 at 1547 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 13730, circa 1 kHz tone test at 1542 Oct 26. Figured it might be Austria, whose schedule has been open to question in B-09, but they supposedly quit the frequency now at 1400; could be Wertachtal, but it too should not be daily or after 1500 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
