** ALBANIA. R. Tirana B-09 monitoring, continued, Oct 27-28:
7520 for English at 2100 is a total loss, as already observed from Europe. IBB, contrary to original registrations, has usurped this semihour instead of starting at 2130 -- almost as if to be a spoiler, as it`s unusual to start a Persian transmission at our hourtop instead of hourbottom (Iran`s hourtop). Even on a portable radio in OK at 2110 Oct 27, R. Farda, 332 degrees all the way from Sri Lanka, is on top of co-channel from Tirana, which will have to find another frequency ASAP (unless IBB relents, unlikely). Only a very poor signal making it here so far from Tirana on // 9895, but in the clear.
Albanian at 2130-2200 is now on 7435 and 6165. At 2220 Oct 27, on portable in the yard, 7435 has a poor signal in Albanian talk; 6165 is not // with music atop, two stations mixing with a SAH. Could be Chad which sporadically uses 6165 as late as 2230, or Croatia on later than expected? 6165 is mainly for Europe, so maybe not too much QRM there.
Evening observations UT Oct 28, all from portable in the yard to escape household noise sources, so reception would no doubt be better on the main rig with longwire:
At 0130, English sign-on audible on 7425, but very poor signal.
At 0245, English on 7425 just barely audible but in the clear. 6 MHz would propagate better for both.
0330, English on 6150 poor but audible better than 7425 earlier; maybe some weak co-channel under.
0438 during 0430 English on 6100, poor but clear.
1545 during 1530 English on 13640, poor signal but clear; no problem yet from adjacents such as Darwin 13635 or Bengaluru 13645
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** AUSTRALIA. Only VL8 signal audible Oct 28 at 1310 was 2310, music and talk, nothing detectable in high noise level on 2325 or 2485. Does this mean a propagational opening very geographically selective, or were the others off or stuck on their 60m channels at night, as sometimes happens? The one on 5025 (=2485) is blocked here by Cuba (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** BRAZIL. 5045 at 0543 Oct 28, good with novelty song, R. Cultura, Pará, now a regular here nightly. Those who don`t keep up with events may assume it is the other Brazilian listed, R. Guarujá Paulista (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake Oct 28 at 1336: fair on 8400, null on 9000, good on 10210.
Song on 7270 // 7295, Oct 28 at 1439 --- could both be Malaysia? But would not be in //, and far too strong. Instead it`s ChiCom CNR1 jamming as Aoki listings soon clarify, and furthermore same on // 7365 and 7385.
7270 vs V. of China, Taiwan, which just started at 1435
7295 vs VOA Chinese, via Novosibirsk at 13-15
7365 not a jammer yet but a real CNR1 channel from Shijiazhuang, then jamming RTI Taiwan after 1600
7385 vs RTI at 10-17 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. OTH radar pules, presumed from here, Oct 28: at 1319, 4790-4840; at 1324 ranging 5770-5820, so AFN Guam 5765 barely escaped; I never hear Myanmar on 5770 anyway (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA [and non]. RHC Oct 28 at 0541: situation nominal, with English on 6140, 6060 and 6010; Spanish on 6120, 6000 with no phones ringing.
Heavy jamming against Martí 7405 bleeds far beyond, Oct 28 at 0548 with distinct pulsing on 7415, where WBCQ is already off, but would have been bad for it earlier. Maybe that`s the QRM Noble West has been complaining about? Matching pulse jamspur on 7395, and another weaker peak from same could be heard around 7440. Downward, there is more noise jamming against nothing on 7365, another Martí channel but now scheduled only at 00-05.
RHC 11760 spurcheck Oct 28: first noted in bandscan at 1345 on 12017.2 with the telltale same-pitch whine as on all the others, some of them also with RHC audio. Also 11657.2, measured on 12068.4; at 1410 measured the primary ones at 11708.6 and 11811.4, or plus and minus 51.4 kHz, then detected as low as 11297.4 and as high as 12222.6, i.e. extending only nine steps above and below fundamental.
Meanwhile at 1407 Oct 28, RHC fundamental on 15120 had a very big het of slightly varying pitch and independent fading, from a carrier on about 15119.8. Previously noted that only other 15120 station scheduled at this time is Saudi Arabia in Bengali, but hard to believe all the way from there so maybe something else. RHC`s other 19m channel until 1500, 15360, now is eclipsed by WYFR in Spanish on 15355 as noted at 1402, now scheduled 1245-1600 with a beam change at 1400 from 222 to 142 degrees upping its backward signal here (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA [and non]. What`s become of R. República in B-09? Only way to find out is by monitoring, as never registers or publishes its own schedule. That does not keep the DentroCuban Jamming Command from finding it right away, so why be so secretive?
I may have found it on new 6160, as I was monitoring for Tirana, Oct 28 at 0130, there was Spanish plus noise jamming, and I think I heard República mentioned. Next check at 0250 appeared to be gone, leaving traces of CKZU/CKZN which would be big victims of the Cuban radio war whenever República may be on 6160. Too, there was now big splash from 6165 where Bonaire RNW Spanish switches from 210 to 305 degrees usward between 0157 and 0200.
CKZN and CKZU are nonentities as far as HFCC is concerned and thus deserve no protexion whatsoever. That leaves no transmissions to or from the Americas scheduled at any time on 6160, making it ripe for a secret República broadcast. It still needs to be confirmed here. If so, does this make it less likely to be via Sackville instead of UK? Would CBC`s RCI nix even a veiled transmission on 6160 in deference to other CBC transmitters on the frequency, or overlook them? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDIA. Reception from AIR was very poor Oct 28, but as far as I could tell the Aligarh blob was not in play at 1340, just very weak signal on 9470 as well as 9425 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KOREA NORTH [and non]. Oct 28 was a Korean morning, rather than anything from PNG or Indonesia on the lower bands, at least when I started monitoring at 1303: assertive Korean talk // on 3320 and 3250 from Pyongyang BS; at 1304 noise jamming from North vs South on 3480, 3912, but at 1325 the S Korean cland Korean talk was atop noise jamming on 6518 // 6600 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KOREA NORTH [and non]. 9880, Oct 28 at 1431 in Japanese with piano music, sounds almost like a hymn. Must be one of those services obsessed with abduxions --- exactly: per Aoki, Furusato no Kaze via Darwin, AUSTRALIA at 1430-1500 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NEW ZEALAND [and non]. 6170, RNZI still with collision from Khabarovsk, Oct 28 at 1327 Russian music bothering Dateline Pacific report on Apia aftermath; by 1435 VOR Chinese was atop RNZI with SAH. RNZI will be concerned about this only if also a problem in its own Pacific target area (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** PHILIPPINES. 7505 with sounds of a revival; could it be WRNO back on expanded schedule? Oct 28 at 1436, soon dashed by discussion in Chinese. Instead it is FEBC via Iba site at 330 degrees, at 1400-1630, so WRNO would be advised to avoid this timeslot anyway (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SERBIA [non]. Still no sign of any signal from IRS on B-09 scheduled 6190 for NAm at 01-02. Instead, Oct 28 at 0130 I am still finding something on 9675, its A-09 frequency, but too weak to be sure what it be. There is now supposed to be one English broadcast at 0130-0200 except UT Sundays (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. WWCR-2, 13845 observation Oct 28: at 1352 thought I was hearing PMS again, a woman preaching, but should have confirmed by // Anguilla 11775, because at 1421 I found 13845 to be back on Overcomer // but not syncho with WWRB`s fading 3185. Since WWCR has never acknowledged carrying Overcomer instead of University Network on 13845, I am beginning to wonder if whenever that happens, it`s a mistake like punching up the wrong satellite feed channel (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SUDAN [non]. 17745, Oct 28 at 1516, exotic music with drumming, ululating, scheduled as Sudan Radio Service via Sines, PORTUGAL (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TURKEY. VOT English at 1330 check Oct 28: at 1345 just barely audible on 12035; at 1403 // 15300 underneath RFI in French, producing a SAH due to non zero-beat transmitter tuning. I will not be surprised if despite this, VOT stays on 15300 for the remaining 5 months of B-09. It varies from station to station, but VOT has demonstrated an unwillingness to make any changes once a season starts, witness 9830 which clashed with RTTY for seven months at 2200, despite our repeated unsolicited advice to do something about it.
Sometimes it`s a standoff, as both stations claim they had priority to a frequency, but this certainly does not apply to 15300, which RFI has used for a very long time, and also uses for many more hours a day than this one hour from VOT. Therefore it`s obvious to any objective observer that VOT is the one which should move ASAP. Saving face, however, by not admitting a mistake, may be more important than providing listeners (who cares about them?) with a clear frequency to hear, and incidentally also making the program producers` work worth doing (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U K. 13750 with VG signal in Russian interview, Oct 28 at 1423. This will be a problem for RHC if it ever resumes Aló Presidente on Sundays from 1400 --- no, it won`t: This hour is BBC Russian via Rampisham, but scheduled M-F only (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [non]. IBB has made the mistake of picking 9325 for broadcasts from Tinang to Asia. As an outlaw nation, North Korea refuses to participate in HFCC, and thus IBB could conclude the frequency was available, even tho any savvy SWL would know Pyongyang has used it for sesquidecades. Per Aoki it`s currently VOK all the way from 1300 to 2050. Frequency managers are not really doing their job if they only go by HFCC, ignoring easily available more comprehensive schedule sources. Aoki shows Korean azimuth as 325 degrees, alternating Korean, Russian, German, but if we get it way offbeam over here it is also likely to be a problem in much closer SE Asia.
So VOA is now scheduled on 9325 at 1300-1530, due west from Tinang, first in Vietnamese, then one hour each in Khmer and Burmese. Oct 28 at 1336 Cambodian was getting co-channel from VOK in Korean with a fast SAH. Same situation at next check 1427, 1429 VOA theme, Washington outro ID in English, 1430 opening Burmese still clashing (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. Dave must have overslept today, Oct 28. WWRB with Overcomer, tho a non-Brother Scare was speaking, on 3185 was still going instead of 9385 at tune-in 1338, and at repeated further chex as 3185 signal steadily sank into the daytime-absorption noise level: 1345, 1400, 1408, 1419, 1426. Finally at 1432 switched to 9385 with usual big signal (bignal?) (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [non]. 13820 Oct 28 at 1353, VG signal in S Asian language, man with clear, expressive enunciation, probably telling a bible story, punxuated by woman making assenting murmurs. 1355 hymn theme, Family Radio Oakland address, and also a GPO Box in Dhaka, Bangladesh --- so it`s Bengali as scheduled. I noticed this since I was expecting to hear at least DentroCuban jamming if not R. Martí, but that does not start until 1400 while YFR allegedly goes on another hour via Nauen to Bengal (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 6150 with big steady open carrier, Oct 28 at 0540-0546:30*. No likely sources listed. Could be an IBB test-only frequency from Greenville, not used for real broadcasts (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
7520 for English at 2100 is a total loss, as already observed from Europe. IBB, contrary to original registrations, has usurped this semihour instead of starting at 2130 -- almost as if to be a spoiler, as it`s unusual to start a Persian transmission at our hourtop instead of hourbottom (Iran`s hourtop). Even on a portable radio in OK at 2110 Oct 27, R. Farda, 332 degrees all the way from Sri Lanka, is on top of co-channel from Tirana, which will have to find another frequency ASAP (unless IBB relents, unlikely). Only a very poor signal making it here so far from Tirana on // 9895, but in the clear.
Albanian at 2130-2200 is now on 7435 and 6165. At 2220 Oct 27, on portable in the yard, 7435 has a poor signal in Albanian talk; 6165 is not // with music atop, two stations mixing with a SAH. Could be Chad which sporadically uses 6165 as late as 2230, or Croatia on later than expected? 6165 is mainly for Europe, so maybe not too much QRM there.
Evening observations UT Oct 28, all from portable in the yard to escape household noise sources, so reception would no doubt be better on the main rig with longwire:
At 0130, English sign-on audible on 7425, but very poor signal.
At 0245, English on 7425 just barely audible but in the clear. 6 MHz would propagate better for both.
0330, English on 6150 poor but audible better than 7425 earlier; maybe some weak co-channel under.
0438 during 0430 English on 6100, poor but clear.
1545 during 1530 English on 13640, poor signal but clear; no problem yet from adjacents such as Darwin 13635 or Bengaluru 13645
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** AUSTRALIA. Only VL8 signal audible Oct 28 at 1310 was 2310, music and talk, nothing detectable in high noise level on 2325 or 2485. Does this mean a propagational opening very geographically selective, or were the others off or stuck on their 60m channels at night, as sometimes happens? The one on 5025 (=2485) is blocked here by Cuba (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** BRAZIL. 5045 at 0543 Oct 28, good with novelty song, R. Cultura, Pará, now a regular here nightly. Those who don`t keep up with events may assume it is the other Brazilian listed, R. Guarujá Paulista (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake Oct 28 at 1336: fair on 8400, null on 9000, good on 10210.
Song on 7270 // 7295, Oct 28 at 1439 --- could both be Malaysia? But would not be in //, and far too strong. Instead it`s ChiCom CNR1 jamming as Aoki listings soon clarify, and furthermore same on // 7365 and 7385.
7270 vs V. of China, Taiwan, which just started at 1435
7295 vs VOA Chinese, via Novosibirsk at 13-15
7365 not a jammer yet but a real CNR1 channel from Shijiazhuang, then jamming RTI Taiwan after 1600
7385 vs RTI at 10-17 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. OTH radar pules, presumed from here, Oct 28: at 1319, 4790-4840; at 1324 ranging 5770-5820, so AFN Guam 5765 barely escaped; I never hear Myanmar on 5770 anyway (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA [and non]. RHC Oct 28 at 0541: situation nominal, with English on 6140, 6060 and 6010; Spanish on 6120, 6000 with no phones ringing.
Heavy jamming against Martí 7405 bleeds far beyond, Oct 28 at 0548 with distinct pulsing on 7415, where WBCQ is already off, but would have been bad for it earlier. Maybe that`s the QRM Noble West has been complaining about? Matching pulse jamspur on 7395, and another weaker peak from same could be heard around 7440. Downward, there is more noise jamming against nothing on 7365, another Martí channel but now scheduled only at 00-05.
RHC 11760 spurcheck Oct 28: first noted in bandscan at 1345 on 12017.2 with the telltale same-pitch whine as on all the others, some of them also with RHC audio. Also 11657.2, measured on 12068.4; at 1410 measured the primary ones at 11708.6 and 11811.4, or plus and minus 51.4 kHz, then detected as low as 11297.4 and as high as 12222.6, i.e. extending only nine steps above and below fundamental.
Meanwhile at 1407 Oct 28, RHC fundamental on 15120 had a very big het of slightly varying pitch and independent fading, from a carrier on about 15119.8. Previously noted that only other 15120 station scheduled at this time is Saudi Arabia in Bengali, but hard to believe all the way from there so maybe something else. RHC`s other 19m channel until 1500, 15360, now is eclipsed by WYFR in Spanish on 15355 as noted at 1402, now scheduled 1245-1600 with a beam change at 1400 from 222 to 142 degrees upping its backward signal here (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA [and non]. What`s become of R. República in B-09? Only way to find out is by monitoring, as never registers or publishes its own schedule. That does not keep the DentroCuban Jamming Command from finding it right away, so why be so secretive?
I may have found it on new 6160, as I was monitoring for Tirana, Oct 28 at 0130, there was Spanish plus noise jamming, and I think I heard República mentioned. Next check at 0250 appeared to be gone, leaving traces of CKZU/CKZN which would be big victims of the Cuban radio war whenever República may be on 6160. Too, there was now big splash from 6165 where Bonaire RNW Spanish switches from 210 to 305 degrees usward between 0157 and 0200.
CKZN and CKZU are nonentities as far as HFCC is concerned and thus deserve no protexion whatsoever. That leaves no transmissions to or from the Americas scheduled at any time on 6160, making it ripe for a secret República broadcast. It still needs to be confirmed here. If so, does this make it less likely to be via Sackville instead of UK? Would CBC`s RCI nix even a veiled transmission on 6160 in deference to other CBC transmitters on the frequency, or overlook them? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDIA. Reception from AIR was very poor Oct 28, but as far as I could tell the Aligarh blob was not in play at 1340, just very weak signal on 9470 as well as 9425 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KOREA NORTH [and non]. Oct 28 was a Korean morning, rather than anything from PNG or Indonesia on the lower bands, at least when I started monitoring at 1303: assertive Korean talk // on 3320 and 3250 from Pyongyang BS; at 1304 noise jamming from North vs South on 3480, 3912, but at 1325 the S Korean cland Korean talk was atop noise jamming on 6518 // 6600 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KOREA NORTH [and non]. 9880, Oct 28 at 1431 in Japanese with piano music, sounds almost like a hymn. Must be one of those services obsessed with abduxions --- exactly: per Aoki, Furusato no Kaze via Darwin, AUSTRALIA at 1430-1500 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NEW ZEALAND [and non]. 6170, RNZI still with collision from Khabarovsk, Oct 28 at 1327 Russian music bothering Dateline Pacific report on Apia aftermath; by 1435 VOR Chinese was atop RNZI with SAH. RNZI will be concerned about this only if also a problem in its own Pacific target area (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** PHILIPPINES. 7505 with sounds of a revival; could it be WRNO back on expanded schedule? Oct 28 at 1436, soon dashed by discussion in Chinese. Instead it is FEBC via Iba site at 330 degrees, at 1400-1630, so WRNO would be advised to avoid this timeslot anyway (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SERBIA [non]. Still no sign of any signal from IRS on B-09 scheduled 6190 for NAm at 01-02. Instead, Oct 28 at 0130 I am still finding something on 9675, its A-09 frequency, but too weak to be sure what it be. There is now supposed to be one English broadcast at 0130-0200 except UT Sundays (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. WWCR-2, 13845 observation Oct 28: at 1352 thought I was hearing PMS again, a woman preaching, but should have confirmed by // Anguilla 11775, because at 1421 I found 13845 to be back on Overcomer // but not syncho with WWRB`s fading 3185. Since WWCR has never acknowledged carrying Overcomer instead of University Network on 13845, I am beginning to wonder if whenever that happens, it`s a mistake like punching up the wrong satellite feed channel (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SUDAN [non]. 17745, Oct 28 at 1516, exotic music with drumming, ululating, scheduled as Sudan Radio Service via Sines, PORTUGAL (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TURKEY. VOT English at 1330 check Oct 28: at 1345 just barely audible on 12035; at 1403 // 15300 underneath RFI in French, producing a SAH due to non zero-beat transmitter tuning. I will not be surprised if despite this, VOT stays on 15300 for the remaining 5 months of B-09. It varies from station to station, but VOT has demonstrated an unwillingness to make any changes once a season starts, witness 9830 which clashed with RTTY for seven months at 2200, despite our repeated unsolicited advice to do something about it.
Sometimes it`s a standoff, as both stations claim they had priority to a frequency, but this certainly does not apply to 15300, which RFI has used for a very long time, and also uses for many more hours a day than this one hour from VOT. Therefore it`s obvious to any objective observer that VOT is the one which should move ASAP. Saving face, however, by not admitting a mistake, may be more important than providing listeners (who cares about them?) with a clear frequency to hear, and incidentally also making the program producers` work worth doing (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U K. 13750 with VG signal in Russian interview, Oct 28 at 1423. This will be a problem for RHC if it ever resumes Aló Presidente on Sundays from 1400 --- no, it won`t: This hour is BBC Russian via Rampisham, but scheduled M-F only (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [non]. IBB has made the mistake of picking 9325 for broadcasts from Tinang to Asia. As an outlaw nation, North Korea refuses to participate in HFCC, and thus IBB could conclude the frequency was available, even tho any savvy SWL would know Pyongyang has used it for sesquidecades. Per Aoki it`s currently VOK all the way from 1300 to 2050. Frequency managers are not really doing their job if they only go by HFCC, ignoring easily available more comprehensive schedule sources. Aoki shows Korean azimuth as 325 degrees, alternating Korean, Russian, German, but if we get it way offbeam over here it is also likely to be a problem in much closer SE Asia.
So VOA is now scheduled on 9325 at 1300-1530, due west from Tinang, first in Vietnamese, then one hour each in Khmer and Burmese. Oct 28 at 1336 Cambodian was getting co-channel from VOK in Korean with a fast SAH. Same situation at next check 1427, 1429 VOA theme, Washington outro ID in English, 1430 opening Burmese still clashing (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. Dave must have overslept today, Oct 28. WWRB with Overcomer, tho a non-Brother Scare was speaking, on 3185 was still going instead of 9385 at tune-in 1338, and at repeated further chex as 3185 signal steadily sank into the daytime-absorption noise level: 1345, 1400, 1408, 1419, 1426. Finally at 1432 switched to 9385 with usual big signal (bignal?) (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [non]. 13820 Oct 28 at 1353, VG signal in S Asian language, man with clear, expressive enunciation, probably telling a bible story, punxuated by woman making assenting murmurs. 1355 hymn theme, Family Radio Oakland address, and also a GPO Box in Dhaka, Bangladesh --- so it`s Bengali as scheduled. I noticed this since I was expecting to hear at least DentroCuban jamming if not R. Martí, but that does not start until 1400 while YFR allegedly goes on another hour via Nauen to Bengal (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 6150 with big steady open carrier, Oct 28 at 0540-0546:30*. No likely sources listed. Could be an IBB test-only frequency from Greenville, not used for real broadcasts (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
