venerdì 13 novembre 2009

Glenn Hauser logs November 11-12, 2009

** ALBANIA. Checking R. Tirana`s 2100 English Nov 11: 9895 very poor with flutter, opening with transmission schedule; // 7520 inaudible under some bubbly QRM, nor was Farda. This was apparently of local origin as I was hearing the same mess every 50 kHz down at least to 7170 and up to 7570+. At least I sure hope it was local.

That was on the portable, perhaps too close to a neighbor`s house. On the main rig FRG-7, 24 hours later, no such problems. Nov 12 at 2101, 9895 was poor but readable with transmission schedule, the main problem being overload from WWCR way up on 9980. // 7520 had better signal at fair level, with Farda via Sri Lanka underneath but annoying, producing a rippling SAH (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CANADA [and non]. Now I`ve heard everything: CBC`s RCI interfering co-channel with CBC`s CKZU Vancouver 6160: Nov 12 at 1358 the RCI IS alternating English and French IDs on top of the frequency but the rippling SAH caused by Vancouver being a couple dekaHertz off. Had to monitor 8GAL at 1400, but recheck at 1401 found 6160 in Chinese, site? 1459 RCI IS audible again instead of CKZU. The 14-15 hour is scheduled as RCI Mandarin via Kimjae, KOREA SOUTH, 100 kW non-direxional. But I bet it is also capable of ruining CKZU`s reception even in remote parts of target area BC. Did it even occur to RCI`s frequency planners that this might present a problem? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHINA. Firedrake Nov 12 at 1351: just barely audible on 9000, inaudible on 8400, 10210 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHINA. After R. Nikkei is done with 6055, latest at 1400, else is to be heard: Nov 12 at 1404 something in Vietnamese, I thought, but Cambodian is scheduled from CRI via Nanning. I can normally tell them apart if I pay attention a bit longer. Strangely, R. Liberty in Turkmen via Thailand is also scheduled on 6055 from 1400, but no sign of it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHINA. OTH radar pulsing, presumed from here, Nov 12: at 1405 on 5075-5125, and same rate/pitch also on 4025-4075. A different higher pitch and faster rate on 4565-4645 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CUBA. Looking for anything but Spanish from RHC, Nov 11 at 2109, but only // Spanish to be heard on 13790, 13770, 11800, 11760, 11730, 9660, 6110, something about Nov 11 the anniversary of a XIX Century Cuban historical event. No signals audible on 17660 or 17705.

Sometimes 6060 stays on the air past 0700 in English, but not Nov 12: at 0722 it plus // 6120, 6140 and 6150 all in Spanish.

DentroCuban noise jamming again on 11600, much stronger than yesterday, at 1608 vs no known target. Why, o why? Possibly 11600 is in use at some other daypart by some hostile broadcaster, or another total screwup at the DCJC, wasting megawatts despite a severe energy crisis in Cuba, according to Raúl himself. Turn off your air conditioners and refrigerators, but keep these running! Don`t you believe RHC`s façade as a friendly station.

Nov 12 at 2035, strong transmitter on 13790 running open carrier, and still such at 2044, while weaker 13770 was in Spanish programming. As was 9660, the latter quite distorted. The 11760 transmitter is now in its ninth day of not producing two dozen dirty spurs.

Non-Spanish found on one frequency, 11770, at 2037 lexuring in Arabic about José Martí (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CYPRUS. OTH radar pulsing, presumed from here, Nov 12 at 1420 spanning 13955-13980 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** ECUADOR [and non]. HCJB DRM noise still audible 15275-15280-15285, Nov 11 at 2055 check, and also Nov 12. To be closed down Nov 15. Does that mean the last transmission will be Nov 14, or 15? And what about Portuguese on 11920 after 00 UT closing Nov 15? Does that mean last broadcast is UT Nov 14, 15 or 16? Or rather, smoothly transitioning to CVC Chile site.

Roger Stubbe at HCJB HQ Colorado Springs noted our reports that their Arabic program had been replaced by VTC fill music loop on 12025 at 2100-2145 via Sackville, surprising since they had been sending their programs to VTC and assumed they were outgoing. He got on them and had it fixed on Nov 11; after a few minutes of open carrier vying with lite CODAR, I heard Arabic starting at 2100, upcut in progress? But soon with YL ID starting ``Huna Idha`at al-Akbar. . .``

Checked again 24 hours later on Nov 12: 12025 cut on a few sex before 2100, then again seems like JIP opening announcement, and this time I caught the last two words in the long ID, ``. . .fi Mauritaniya``, but still missing the middle ones.

Roger Stubbe says this is HCJB`s own ministry; they just don`t use the meaningless Roman letters in that context. His full explanation of what happened with VTC in upcoming DXLD 9-080 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** INDIA. AIR GOS, 9690 to SE Asia, Nov 12 at 1346 was giving program summary for the rest of the broadcast, times both in IST and UT. Do they really think `overseas` listeners really need to be confused by times given in India`s wacky zone out of step with the rest of the world? Anyhow, since GOS does not publish any program schedules on paper or on the web (that I have been able to find), this is the only way to put together a program schedule.

Would those who listen frequently please copy all this down over a week`s period, in UT only and send it along. They probably do the same at a certain daily time in the other transmissions. Listeners` Choice followed at 1348, i.e. music requests. Good signal, better than usual, with some hum. Considerably weaker at 1455 with GOS of AIR ID and final news summary.

The AIR Aligarh blobmess Nov 12 at 1357 covered more than usual, 9460 to 9490, including Australia on 9475, but peaked about 9460 rather than nominal 9470 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** ISRAEL. Galei Tsahal varies further downward away from the 15790 station, a good thing, Nov 12 at 1425 measured on 15782.6 with a slow song, not recognized but lyrix I think in English; modulation a bit rough and carrier slightly unstable. 1429 to Hebrew announcement, ads (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** KOREA NORTH [non]. 9780 good with Japanese YL over piano music, Nov 12 at 1605; she sounds sad, no doubt because speaking of abductees in this Furusato no Kaze broadcast per Aoki, via Tainan, Taiwan, 250 kW at 45 degrees so also USward. No giggling here! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** KURDISTAN [non]. V. of Mesopotamia, 11530, Nov 12 at 1440 with neat Kurdish music of which they play a lot; fair signal but splatter from WEWN 11550. This TDP transmission per HFCC is 300 kW, 129 degrees via Simferopol`, Ukraine, the cover site for the real one as in Aoki, Mykolaiv (a.k.a. Nikolayev in Russian), 32-14E, 46-49N (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** NETHERLANDS [non]. Just tuned 21525, RN via Bonaire, in time to hear a few notes of closing music until 2057* Nov 11 and know that reception the preceding hour would have been quite good. English at 21-23 would be more convenient for me, but can`t have everything. // 11655 via Madagascar stayed on a while longer with open carrier, but not very interesting. Next day after 2030 Nov 12, however, 21525 was not so solid, while 11655 was quite good (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** NETHERLANDS [non]. Happy Station on WRMI, Thu Nov 12 at 1600+, heard on webcast, but could have been heard on 9955: Keith Perron said all the extra repeats of HS on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday are of the 1600 edition, not the different 0200 UT Thursday edition. Except, next week Nov 19, all airings will carry the David Monson interview. Keith also said the 0200 broadcast this week explains why he doesn`t like Arnie Coro, still living in the Cold War pre-1989. Access:
http://www.pcjmedia.com/Archive_shows.html
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** NIGERIA. 15120, VON with ID in English at 2029 Nov 12, but badly squeezed between WYFR on 15115 and REE/Costa Rica on 15125, not to mention another WYFR on 15130. It would take tight selectivity to read VON clearly.

Frequency management in action: NO signals at all from 15135 to 15185, which means they could have been in the clear with no co- or adjacent-channel QRM on 15140, 15145, 15150, 15155, 15160, 15165, 15170, 15175, or 15180. What frequency management? Nigeria does not participate in HFCC, so they are lucky not to have something directly on top of them on 15120. VON has always used 15120 and nothing but 15120 on 19m and that`s good enough for them, inconceivable to go anywhere else.

Wolfgang Büschel suggests that my unID DRM 15115-15120-15125 Nov 11 at 1525 might have been Abuja testing a new DRM-capable transmitter; which no doubt will solve all their problems (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SAUDI ARABIA. The Buzzing Service of the KSA, again heard on 11785, Nov 12 at 1413, producing some QRM to NHK 11780 in English via UK. This buzz not strong and not heard every day on this Riyadh-listed frequency (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** TAIWAN. RTI Japanese service on 9735, Nov 12 at 1345 was quite strong, but overmodulating and splattering down to 9700; soon the splatter moderated but still overmod on fundamental. The sporadic spurs on 9730 and 9740 were not noted this time (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A [and non]. VOA is at it again --- interfering with itself. Nov 11 at 2056 I find a large open carrier on 15580. It could have been on from 5 to 10 minutes earlier. That`s Greenville about to start its only hour of VOA English on this frequency. But VOA English runs on 15580 from 14 to 22 with six transmitter site changes in eight hours (plus a beam change from the same site), so there could well be many more instances of this on 15580 and many other frequencies, as VOA abuts many transmissions from different sites on same frequency.

In this case it`s Iranawila, Sri Lanka, which had been running the previous hour of English, also to Africa, from the other worldside. I could barely imagine hearing VOA audio underneath the carrier, but in target Africa the situation should be quite different with more equal signal levels from the two.

I had other stuff to monitor around hourtop so did not note when GB-15580 started modulating with YDD sign-on or not, but the carrier alone is problem enough, and by 2103 VOA news was in progress.

Checked 15580 again 24 hours later on Nov 12: at tune-in 2027 the strong Greenville carrier was already on, but broke for less than a minute, off again at 2031. Next check at 2047 it was on again and stayed on until 2100 programming.

This is worse than what was happening for months on 17585 between Greenville and Botswana at 1430, until toward the end of A-09, after our repeated complaints they finally got their act together to coordinate the switchover without overlapping for a few minutes.

How long will it take this time to drop carrier immediately (DCI) and then crash-start (CS) from the next transmitter?

R. Martí, Greenville, 15330, Nov 12 at 1433 extremely strong and splattering plus/minus 20 kHz. Could barely detect DentroCuban jamming underneath. But is it that good in the Free Territory? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 17775, KVOH with huge signal as occasionally happens presumably tnx to off-season HF-only sporadic-E opening, Nov 11 at 2105. Enough to bring with it distorted spur circa 17920, no definite carrier; the match on 17630 however was no match for RFI Spanish via Guiana French.

But next morning, Nov 12 at 1612, 17775 is even stronger and both spurs were audible, consisting of noise, whine, and bits of modulation (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGET)

** U S A. 21640, weak, fading non-Arabic signal at 1617 Nov 12. Saudi is off by 1500, so this is WHRI scheduled 87 degrees to Africa.

BTW, FCC confirms that WHRA in Maine is permanently off the air. WHR website now labels ``Angel 5`` as another WHRI unit. Yet this page
http://www.whr.org/Technical-Information.cfm still claims this ``WHRI`` is in Greensbush, Maine! I also see that current WHRI listings by FCC do not show the azimuths WHRA employed as recently as A-09, such as 75 degrees (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 13570, WINB, VG Nov 12 at 2033 with the unmistakable mumbling of convicted sex-offending, child-marrying evangelist Tony Alamo, accusing Dr Phil of lying about him, re having guns in the compound; and blessing God anyway for whatever happens to him. Like finally being sentenced Friday Nov 13, after numerous delays per
http://www.tonyalamonews.com

The WINB schedule shows him on thrice weekdaily: 8 am, 11 am, 3 pm ET = 1400, 1700, 2000 UT; the first one on 9265. WINB has shown no signs of dropping this criminal, like WWCR did as soon as he was convicted last July. Will they now after Nov 13? If they read this, would it convince them?
http://www.tonyalamonews.com/584/tony-alamos-secrets-exposed.php
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A [and non]. WBCQ, 9330-CUSB, with hard rock music, Nov 12 at 2051, stronger than // 7415 which seemed to have some co-channel QRM under, China? Unfortunately, I missed checking before 2030 to confirm whether or not new WORLD OF RADIO 1486 was airing on both frequencies this time again. Next chances to hear it on WBCQ are UT Fri 0100 on 5110, Mon 2300 on 7415.

IRRS advises us that they are changing immediately from 7290 to 6170 for the weekend 19-21 UT broadcast, so look for WORLD OF RADIO there Saturday at 1900. 6170 does appear to have a clear shot during these two hours only, tho flanked by Croatia and Brother Scare; that should be an improvement over co-channel Russia on 7290, and adjacents China on 7285, 7295 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFED. 4975, regular pulsing noises at the rate of 210 per minute, Nov 12 at 1409. Not like OTH radar, but what is it? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 6074, my first copy this season of 8GAL, the mysterious CW marker which appears just as Radio Rossii, 6075 is signing off from Petropavlovsk/Kamchatskiy at 1400, and thought to be a Russian army transmitter somewhere around there. Listening from 1359 Nov 12, the marker started about 15 sex before the hour, before the R.R. timesignal, so mixing with it. Not much QRM from China/Taiwan this time. Same message as always, and slight variations make me suspect it is hand-keyed: VVV CQ CQ CQ DE 8GAL 8GAL 8GAL K. Quite clear and easy copy (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. Strong DRM on 9445-9450-9455, Nov 12 at 2046. Is any DRM listed here in B-09 HFCC, Aoki, EiBi, or DRM DX schedule? Of course not! Why should the DRM folx bother with that? These frequencies were last known in use for the HCJB-sponsored DRM tests via IBB Greenville, apparently still going (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 15570, unoccupied by known broadcasters, again with an open carrier, S9+15, Nov 12 at 1431, but also with a continuous het or tone, could not tell which (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###