mercoledì 25 novembre 2009

Glenn Hauser logs November 24-25, 2009

** AUSTRALIA. 11980, Nov 25 at 1603 news in English about violence in Thailand, Hajj underway at Mecca, AMA enticing in new doctors; Oz accent which fits since it`s R. Australia, ID at 1605 and ``Fora Radio`` from ABC Radio National and RA. Recent new frequency? New to me, anyway, and our best bet for RA during the 16-17 hour only, 317 degrees via CVC Darwin. After 17 we can go back to Shepparton 11880, 50 degrees more USward. 11980 had rapid clix on hi side believed from DCJC 11930 jamming spur (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** BRAZIL. 11815, R. Brasil Central, Nov 25 at 0633 ID making it unnecessary to check // 4985, but did so anyway as on my way to there on second receiver; Goiânia much better on 11815. The best/only Brazilian on 25m as 11780 had not cut on yet, and not much from 11925v (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** BULGARIA. 7400, Nov 25 at 0635, ME music with repetitive chanting, making me wonder if it`s something other than R. Bulgaria, the only thing scheduled here, in German during this semihour. Well, my characterization must be misguided, as program schedule at
http://bnr.bg/sites/de/Pages/ProgramScheme.aspx shows ``Bulgarische Volkskunst`` after the Nachrichten (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CANADA. 15190, very weak crienglish.com mentioned at 1454 Nov 25, // and synchronized with 15230 via Sackville, so presumably a spur from that strong signal about to sign off. On 15190 mixing with open carrier producing SAH of approx. 4.5 Hz, presumably R. Africa; it sped up momentarily as one of them must have varied. See also EQUATORIAL GUINEA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHINA. OTH radar pulsing, presumed from here, all over the place between 5 and 7 MHz, Nov 24 at 1411-1413, approximate ranges:
5180-5230
5360-5410 - higher pitch than all the others, from different site?
5440-5490
5810-5840 
6550-6580 - weaker, making bandwidth seem narrower than 50 kHz
6770-6820
6950-7000
Axually I was tuning from the higher to the lower ones (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHINA [and non]. CNR1, mostly as jammers, Nov 25 at 1424 in // on 7295, 7365, 7385, 7525, 7535 playing ``Exodus`` theme on piano. Not to give the DentroChinese any ideas about escaping from a horribly overcrowded and human-rights-abusing nation.

Asia-Pacific on R. Australia today at 1525 on 9590 concluded with a report on how Falun Gong adherents are persecuted, imprisoned, killed and their organs harvested; some have been granted asylum in Australia, organs intact. Think of this whenever you hear Firedrake jamming Sound of Hope; it`s not just nice idle entertainment.

Firedrake, Nov 25 at 1417: good on 8400, nothing on 9000, poor on 10210 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CUBA. Have stopped noting RHC 6140 language usage every night, as lately it has been consistently in English at least until 0700, as Nov 25 0644 check during music, but much weaker and undermodulated compared to 6060 and 6010; while 6150 and 6120 were in Spanish.

Nov 25 at 1407, RHC missing from 6110 amid all the Asians, and still missing at 1428 when I confirmed all three 25m channels were running, so not a blanket power outage; but at 1609 check 6110 was back, with usual weak and isolated daytime signal.

The heavy DentroCuban-style noise jamming is back on 11600, Nov 25 at 1601. Again we have no idea what they could possibly need to jam there, following Spanish from Czechia and Slovakia during the previous hour. Of course, if R. República snuk in a new transmission, it would not be on any public schedule. Not checked again until 1912, and the jamming is *still* running, against nothing else audible. If the DCJC ever heard anything suspicious on frequency, that would be enough to set off jamming forevermore (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 15190, weak carrier producing a SAH with Sackville spur from 15230, Nov 25 at 1454; see CANADA. 1518, no carrier on 15190. 1546 open carrier, and still at 1558. Presumably R. Africa failing to modulate, as nothing else known here at these times (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** GREECE. VOG on 15630 instead of scheduled 15650, with Greek music, Nov 25 at 1436. Have they finally caught on to the clash with Miraya FM via SLOVAKIA after 1500 on 15650?? Or was this just a mistake? VOG has always registered both 15630 and 15650, one of them necessarily wooden, so it`s easy enough for them to shift. What would happen at the previous switchover time from 15650 to 15630, circa 1555? Nothing: kept right on going on 15630. See also SUDAN [non] (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** INDIA. AIR VBS, 9870, Nov 25 at 1421, two men demonstrating a laughing duet, then discussing it in Hindi, VG signal unlike 9425 National Channel, just barely audible and even less so Aligarh 9470 which still seems normally unblobby. 9870 and 9425 are both 500 kW Bengaluru, at 335 and 18 degrees respectively, making all the difference (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** KOREA NORTH [non]. 5985, Shiokaze/Sea Breeze via JSR Tokyo, Nov 25 at 1404 with English as usual on Wednesdays, starting with the case of Kazayuki, born 8/22/51, abducted on 3/9/70 at the age of 18. YL talking over sad piano bed, no QRM at all (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** NIGERIA. Tnx to tips from Ron Howard and Harold Frodge, VON on 15121, Nov 25 at 1935, poor signal in accented English M&W discussion of something. Nothing to het on 15120 at this time, but makes two different hets against REE/CR 15125 and WYFR 15115. Would this be VON`s brand-new transmitter, since the old one did not shift off-frequency like this? This English transmission is 17-21 per EiBi (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** OKLAHOMA. What I reported Nov 23 about these two stations is no longer operative. It remains to be seen whether they will keep changing from day to day or whether I will try to keep up with them.

Nov 24 at 2030 UT, KGYN-1210 Guymon back up to usual good groundwave signal level, instead of inaudible. Nov 25 at 1915 seems gone again.

Nov 24 at 2054 UT, KEOR-1120 Sperry is again IDing as `Hot 1340` KJMU Sand Springs; SAH from KMOX skywave already showing up. It must cut considerably into KEOR coverage area long before LSS this time of year (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** POLAND [non]. 11905, Nov 25 at 1430, PRES IDs in English and Polish, then into Slavic language; quite good signal but with echo. Scheduled as Belarussian via Woofferton, UK, 125 kW at 75 degrees, but could just as well serve all the White Russians in Oklahoma, if they only knew about it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** PORTUGAL. RDPI back to normal Nov 25, around 0640, only fair on 7345, rather than super-signals on erroneous 9455, 9855 as 24 hours earlier; see RUSSIA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** RUSSIA [and non]. RDPI managed not to transmit 3-4 hours beyond schedule Nov 25 on 9855, re-clearing Vladivostok for V of Russia, 0627 with Jews` harp music feature. // 9840 Petropavlovsk/Kamchatskiy. Conveniently only one sesquidekaHertz apart, it`s easy to compare the two signals. This time they were almost same level, but 9855 maybe a few dB stronger, offset by being slightly distorted compared to 9840, which was quite atop R. Rossii Moscow site co-channel. At 0638 this UT Wednesday both were in slow clearly-enunciated Russian, evidently language lesson within the English service, making it even more Russians vs Russians on 9840.

EiBi et al. show one other frequency for VOR English to NAm until 0700*, 12030, but nothing audible there around 0630, tho English neighbors BBC 12015 and DW 12045 were well heard, via Ascension and Rwanda respectively.

Just try finding the VOR English frequency schedule on their website, now that they have messed with it again! All I could find was the program grid at
http://english.ruvr.ru/radio_broadcast/schedule
confirming that Russian by Radio airs during the 0630 semihour Mondays and Wednesdays (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SAUDI ARABIA [and non]. Buzzing Service of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 15435 already on the air at 1457 Nov 25. Quite a big signal at start, and it`s so bad now that no Arabic can be heard mixing underneath as used to be the case. Bothering Farda via Skelton as far away as 15410, and also, but less so, BBCWS English via Cyprus on 15420 at 1516, which altho weaker than Farda, must be in a lesser pocket within the non-linear Riyadh noise envelope. By 1547, 15435 had faded considerably.

Now it`s certain two of those transmitters are suffering this terrible malady, yet will not be put out of their misery by the incompetent Saudi engineers(?), as exactly same pitch buzz heard on 11785 at same time 1457. Earlier in the 1400 hour I had searched 13m for Saudi signals including ex-buzz on 21505, but nothing but Spain, Libya audible (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SUDAN [non]. 15650, Miraya FM via IRRS Milano via Rimavská Sobota, SLOVAKIA, fortuitously in the clear Nov 25, as ERA Greece [q.v.] was using its alternate 15630 instead of 15650 as early as 1436. Remains to be seen if deliberate change to avoid the collision ongoing for weeks, or just a mistake at Avlis. We outpointed long ago that such a shift would benefit everyone, but IRRS has not been concerned about 15650 causing any trouble in target Sudan.

Unfortunately, this date Miraya too weak to make anything out of it here. Listened intently for the sesqui-minute-late timesignal at 1501:30, but not heard altho weak talk could be detected. At 1514, Miraya had improved a little as could hear a YL in seeming English, and Greece remained on 15630 for the rest of the hour; we hope thru 1800 as it previously had after 1555. SRS was much better on 17745 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SUDAN [non]. After finding Miraya FM in the clear altho hardly audible on 15650, wanted to compare it to Sudan Radio Service which competes for Nubian audience at same time: much better on 17745 via Sines, PORTUGAL, Nov 25 at 1502, non-English, sorta-Arabic, with usual annoying produxion echo to impair readability. Hmmm, perhaps EDC computed that if they broadcast each word twice, even if overlapping, they would be getting double their money`s worth? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. Seems WRMI is having antenna problems again on 9955. UT Wednesdays supposed to be on NW antenna, but nothing audible at 0630. Very weak at 1530 with DX Partyline, and 1630 new WORLD OF RADIO 1488, which should have first aired at 0800 whether anyone could hear it. At 1606 could barely tell if Jack van Impe was preaching. Then Jeff White replies to our inquiry:

``Glenn: Yes. The transmitter was kicking off, and we discovered it was because of the northern antenna. It works fine going south. Not sure why yet, so we're back to using just the southern antenna while we investigate. They're working on it today. Jeff`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A [non]. 7575, no signal at all Nov 25 at 1416 despite good conditions from E Asia on many other 7 MHz channels. 24 hours earlier this had borne VOA Cantonese(?), and same hour days before that, in English. No English channel replacement found now in the 7.3-7.6 MHz range; we know VOA is pressured to cut back airtime for this useless language which hardly anybody understands. Perhaps IBB is following my suggestion to jump frequencies around unpredictably trying to escape ChiCom jamming, but it`s also a good way to lose desired listeners.

17895, at 1512 Nov 25, contemporary American YL singer (which one? I don`t keep up with that genre), poor signal; better at next tuneby 1549 when VOA Border Crossings host was greeting Christopher Lewis in England --- he is getting to be quite a well-known worldwide SWL entity via several stations as he takes the trouble to participate in mailbags, request shows and call-ins. Then hello to someone in Ghana, and playing a request from Indonesia.

VOA starts 17895 as soon as Saudi stops, at 1500. Current usage, all in English is, but very much subject to change without notice:
1500-1600 100 degrees from São Tomé
1600-1700 350 degrees from Botswana
1700-1730 276 degrees from Thailand [why not just keep it Botswana??]
1730-1800 350 degrees from Botswana
1800-2000  90 degrees from Bonaire
This produces four opportunities for VOA to interfere with itself by overlapping transmissions (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. WEWN in English, 13835, Nov 25 at 1433 with heavy quick echo, as in long/short path simultaneously, the former being some 39 Megameters. I don`t see how backscatter could explain it instead.

Next WEWN English frequency, 15610, exhibited the same at 1515. Also noted from WWCR 15825, q.v. (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. WWCR missing again another morning from 13845, Nov 25 at 1432 altho 15825 was propagating well enough. Just the WEWN 13835 spur mushing up 13845. Still no WWCR on 13845 at 1556 check. But on with PMS at 1902.

At 1446 paid more attention to 15825, with long/shortpath echo, ad something about inspirational money, back to black gospel music show which replaced Tony Alámo as soon as he was convicted last summer. About the same distance as WEWN, another 39 Megameter long-path catch vs 1 Megameter short-path (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A [and non]. KVOH, 17775, Nov 25 at 1551 at S9+22 level, distorted hymnsinging in Spanish. That explains why its extremely distorted spur circa 17920 was already heard when I bytuned at 1549; 1554 faded up audiblizing whine and could make it // 17775 music. 17920 intermittently overridden by much louder utility bursts in some digital mode, as if to say, ``Get offa my frequency!``. Matching spur on 17630 weakly detectable at 1552 hashing up CRI English via Mali // 13740 Cuba during Chinese pop song. Looked for another KVOH spur 145 kHz up but 18065 not making it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 6074, 8GAL making a nice showing Nov 25 at 1400-1401 with usual V/CQ marker on CW, beating against slightly unstable Russian 6075 carrier, and the Chinese radio war (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 6500-7235, very wideband pulsing noise Nov 25 at 0641, unlike anything heard before, possibly local but not the time to go traipsing around the neighborhood with the portable. No new household devices have been installed. Could be an OTH radar gone wild; anyone else notice? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 9560, Nov 25 at 1521, discussion in English about power of women vs men, voiced-over in Chinese; good, but perpetual het from off-frequency Ethiopia. Figured it would be easy to uplook later, but the trouble is, two Chinese broadcasts are scheduled during this hour:

CRI via Kashgar, East Turkistan, 100 kW at 174 degrees, and
RCI via Yamata, Japan, 300 kW, 240 degrees. Judging from subject matter, more likely the latter. If both are really active, I bet there is a nasty collision in south Asia (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 17757.5, Nov 25 at 1444, 2-way Spanish SSB intermittent, much too close to big WYFR 17760 signal in English. Perhaps these intruders are in its skip zone, and/or hoped WYFR would mask them from detexion (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###