martedì 3 novembre 2009

Glenn Hauser logs November 3, 2009

** ALBANIA. 13640, R. Tirana, English to NAm, Nov 3 at 1532 going from transmission schedule to news, good signal and absolutely no interference on channel or from the sides. CODAR (``ocean wave radar``) swishing pulses did not extend above 13575 at this time (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** ASCENSION. BBCWS on 17640 now provides quite good reception in NAm, contrary to their best efforts to cut us off from SW. Nov 3 at 1435 during Newshour, it was good enough to audiblize a bit of continuous hum in the background, attributable to the generators? I wonder if the sound will change once windpower is up and running, if not dashed by the financial crisis on the island, and what about the danger to protected birds? Now scheduled 1300-1700, 250 kW at 114 degrees for C&SAf, but excluding South Africa and Magagascar, where I bet this can be heard too anyway (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** AUSTRIA [non]. I did not get around to checking ORF`s Canada relay on B-09 schedule until Nov 3, and guess what? It`s gone. Tho planned for 16-17 on 13675, nothing there at 1615 check, nor on possible alternative 13775. I was wanting to confirm whether the token 3-minute local news in English from 0708 UT M-F on 6155 was still being played back in the middle of the German external broadcasts, in this case circa 1613. Maybe it still is, along with French, if the direct transmissions to Americas still exist, 0000-0100 on 7325, 0100-0130 on 9840 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHINA. Firedrake Nov 3 at 1341: zero on 8400, poor on 9000, fair on 10210 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CUBA [and non]. RHC check Nov 3 at 0713 finds them still on the air: Spanish on 6150, 6140, 6120, and weak 6000. English on 6060; nothing on 6010. Evidently 6010 after 0500 has been abandoned, good news so the Colombians and Mexicans can get back to fighting over it. Would those awake after 0800 check whether RHC is still on 6150 then, blocking KNLS English?

The RHC 11760 spurblob generator was especially efficient Nov 3 at 1352 when the whine could be detected down to 11140.8. Usually the lowest one I can hear is 11192.4. These calculations based on measuring the closest pair this date at 1350 on 11708.4 and 11811.6, or 51.6 kHz displaced. So 11140.8 is the twelfth one down.

If there were one more it would be on 11089.2, perilously close to the Radio Saint Helena Day frequency 11092.5 coming up the evening of Saturday Nov 14. If the spur displacement were to vary to 51.346 kHz, it would land right on RSH. However, by sheer luck, the 2200-2400 portion of the broadcast should be safe, as during those two hours only, RHC puts the offending transmitter on 11670, then 15250 for Venezuela relays.

I monitored the RHC frequency announcements again Nov 3 at 1401 and 1500, both given by some announcer other than Tony. Once again they had been updated, but not accurately.

At 1401 on 13780 he said: 15120, 15360, 13760(definitely), 13680, 13780, 11760, 11730, 11800, 6110, i.e. to be used during the following hour. Yet 13760 has been replaced by 13770, as reconfirmed at 1359 altho it was weak getting splash from much stronger RHC 13780, Cuban Commies vs Cuban Commies! And also bothered from 13765 by Vatican IS.

At 1500 he said: 13770, 11730, 11780, 11800, 6110. Once again, 11780 is obviously a typo for the real channel, 11690. How long before that gets corrected? Altho 11760 was off at the moment for an antenna change, it and its two dozen spurs came right back on at 1501, despite having been omitted from the announcement! Into program featuring trovas.

Meanwhile, the website schedule still has not been updated to show any such changes as of Nov 3 at 1700, even tho current date autodisplays:
http://www.radiohc.cu/espanol/c_frecuencia/frecuencias.htm

Furthermore, both 11760 and new 11730 have co-channel interference. At 1350 I was hearing something under 11760 in English: it`s CRI via Kunming at 135 degrees, 1200-1400 to Australia, ChiComs vs CubComs!

And at 1459, 11730 had something under with a timesignal at 1500, and worse mixing at 1530, in Arabic. That`s RRI to the Mideast, 140 degrees from Galbeni at 15-16 daily; but the timesignal may have come from BBC Russian via Rampisham, also at 15-16 M-F on 11730: those two must make quite a collision in Europe/ME, quite aside from having Habana in addition (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CYPRUS. 10940-10965, OTH radar, Nov 3 at 1348, presumed from here, bothering some kind of ute carrier around 10945 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** INDIA [and non]. AIR Aligarh blob shifted upwards from position the previous two days: Nov 3 at 1343 centred approximately 9497, covering 9490-9505, so RA clear on 9475, but something getting creamed on 9500: scheduled as CVC via Tashkent at 11-14 in, heh heh, Hindi! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** INDONESIA. VOI missing for the third day in a row from 9525v/9526v, no trace even of a carrier at 1344 Nov 3, so we lack our weekly Tuesday Banjarmasin fix on the Exotic Indonesia excursion. Not that we could make out what they are saying if it were on the air. Again, no sign of it on 11785v either. We are beginning to get worried. Is VOI being heard at any other times, anywhere else, around 9525, 11785 or 15150? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** IRAN. Qur`an with long, pregnant pauses, in // on 13790 and 13800, Nov 3 at 1357, both fair but somewhat stronger on the former. IRIB Arabic service from two different sites, both scheduled at 0530-1430: 13790, 178 degrees from Kamalabad; and 13800, 289 degrees from Zahedan. A bit more frequency diversity would be prudent. Despite the diversity in azimuths, both are for same targets from Libya to Turkey to Iraq to Oman to Yemen and everywhere in between (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** ISRAEL [non]. Galei Zahal has been missing lately from 15786v: Nov 3 at 1406 nothing there aside 15790, BBC Arabic via Cyprus (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** KOREA SOUTH. Quickly scanning 60m, the only readable signal below 5 MHz was on 4900, Nov 3 at 1336, just in time to hear a few Korean numbers by no-nonsense YL until 1337*, (faux?) spy transmission as previously caught on several higher channels such as 6730 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** KUWAIT. In contrast to the more traditional Qur`aning on 13790/13800 [see IRAN], different rendition on 15110, Nov 3 at 1403, voice almost sounds like a female, but maybe just a boy, as surely Kuwait is not that liberal; then 1404 into equally reverent but non-musical talk in Arabic. Kabd transmitter site, 500 kW at 100 degrees to S Asia, poor-fair signal here (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** NEW ZEALAND. DRM noise on 9865-9870-9875 at 0709 Nov 3; must be RNZI on new schedule, ex-11675. Yes, accompanied by loud and clear analog RNZI on 9765, and I prefer to listen to the latter.

At 1332, 6170 is the only frequency for RNZI, but on Nov 3 it has heavy co-channel QRM in Chinese from VOR even tho that is allegedly aimed due west from Khabarovsk (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. Double dose of convicted child-marrying/sex-molesting evangelist Tony Alamo, courtesy WINB, Nov 3: his mind-numbing ramblings were ongoing around 1342 when I tuned across 9265; and again 1615 on 13570 as I was looking for Austria via Canada on 22m (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. In bandscan of 16m, unlike some days inbooming before 1430, no trace of KVOH on 17775, Nov 3 at 1535. Is their transmission irregular, or are we totally at the mercy of HF sporadic-E `short-skip` enhancement in order to hear KVOH at all, from less than 2 Megameters away? Lots of signals on 16m at the time, but all from points eastward. This was well after sunrise on Rancho Simi (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A [and non]. 9555 with WYFR Spanish Nov 3 until sign-off at 1345*, uncovering VOA Korean, but not soon enough. These two US stations are colliding on 9555 from 1200 when VOA starts Korean via Saipan, and 1300 via Tinang, Philippines. WYFR is registered until 1400 but TG for small favors, like so many of its transmissions ends a quarter-hour earlier (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 11789.9, the 25m-intruding Asian-language 2-way SSB communicators are still at it on apparent regular daily schedule, Nov 3 at 1502, which should make them easy to pinpoint with professional DF equipment, if anybody cared (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###