** ALBANIA. R. Tirana check Nov 4 at 1555 on 13640: Good S9+18 signal and good modulation in song a few minutes before closing. Catch this 1530 Mon-Sat broadcast if you can for best propagation and lack of interference (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ANGUILLA [and non]. 11775 missing Nov 5 at 1438 and later after 1500, when University Network is also missing from WWCR 13845, leaving PMS voiceless on SW. If she really cared about being heard 24/7, she would have kept the Cahuita, Costa Rica facility operational for additional redundancy (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** AUSTRIA [and non]. Another check for R. Austria International`s scheduled relay via Canada on 13675: Nov 4 at 1559* ending CRI relay, and nothing further. Still need to confirm whether Austria`s direct transmissions to the Americas still exist, 00-01 on 7325, 01-0130 on 9840 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** BURKINA FASO. Not only Mauritania, but Ouagadougou 5030 was also reactivated Nov 3, says Jari Savolainen, Finland, heard at 1745. This one is not so easy with powerful Rebelde next door. Nov 4 at 0628 there was certainly a carrier on 5030.0 and lo modulation amid Cuban splash. WRTH 2009 shows sked as 0530-0800 and 1700-2400, with daytime frequency 7230 0800-1700; is that reactivated too? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake Nov 4 at 1429: nothing on 8400, 9000; JBA on 10210 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. Missing the last few nights, 6010 with RHC in English was back Nov 4 --- tough luck, Conciencia and Mil, presumably from 0500, found at 0629 in English, Ann(e) Sullivan with news on the half-hour // 6060 and this time 6140 is in English too. She has a peculiar accent I am trying to place. Is she new with RHC? 0636 over to Ed Newman with weekly Focus on Africa, about African influence in Cuban music.
RHC Spanish at 0635 on 6150, 6120; and just barely audible // 11760 at 0642.
DentroCuban Jamming Command pulsing on 9955, Nov 4 at 0640 underneath VG signal from WRMI with Wire Light infomercial. Since it`s UT Wednesday, WRMI is on their NW antenna at this time.
Nov 4 at 1439 started checking for spurs from 11760, but there aren`t any! Yet 11760 is on; seems they have either fixed them, or more likely swapped transmitters, as this one has no underlying whine either, and 15120 is missing at 1445 check, while 15360 is still running. Also on // 11730, distorted 11800. In case the bad unit has been put somewhere else, checked 13 and 15 MHz bands but no RHC spurs there either. I am not foolish enough to imagine this problem be gone for good.
New 11730 being run long hours is not exactly clear for RHC. At 1459 heard RRI IS mixing and opening in Arabic; then Russian too, with RHC the #3 signal beneath these. During this one hour only, RRI via Galbeni at 140 degrees and BBC via Rampisham at 62 degrees are already colliding. Welcome aboard, RHC! At 1559, RHC again with 11730 to itself.
At 1500, non-Tony RHC announcer on 11760 listed these frequencies: 13770 (correct!), 11730, 11760, 11800, 6110. But he did not say ``11780`` this time even tho the real frequency that represented, 11690, was up and running by 1507 with usual RTTY QRM.
At 1501 we find RHC 11800 even more distorted than usual, and audio breaking up. 11760 carrier is cutting off and on, and modulation cutting off and on during the periods carrier is on; breakups not synchronized with 11800. At 1507, 11760 is mostly off, 1510 back with open carrier; 1523 staying on with modulation.
The poor Venezuelans also get messed up by the incompetent Cubans, but hey, they`re co-religionists, so give them a pass, and keep shipping the oil. RNV relay supposed to be on 11680 at 15-16, but nothing there at 1504, except something else weak in Arabic, i.e. BBC via Rampisham. Finally at *1505:30 on comes the Cuban transmitter joining program in progress, but modulation cutting off and on --- oops, it`s RHC // 11730 and 11800. Finally at 1507 cut over to RNV programming (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CYPRUS. Strong OTH radar pulses, presumed from here, Nov 4 at 1443 covering 14900-14930. Also at 1525, 11432-11460 approximately (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** EQUATORIAL GUINEA [and non]. 6250, RNGE had been missing for several weeks, but Nov 4 at 0631 there is something in Spanish on 6250.0, ute QRM. Checked RHC on 49m to be sure not a // mixing product. 0632 seems into music, but fading and soon gone or off. Used to cut on irregularly sometime between 0530 and 0600. Polisario in as usual on 6297, and it holds up later being far to the NW of Malabo. A banner day for African reactivations, along with Burkina Faso and Mauritania, qq.vv. (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GREECE. VOG, 15650, clashing with Miraya FM, Sudan via Slovakia, early in the 1500 UT hour Nov 4, so when will Athens get off the frequency? At 1553 still mixing with music, but off at 1554*, and a minute later *1555 comes up in mid-song on 15630, clearing 15650 for IRRS. Now why couldn`t they do this 55 minutes earlier, to everyone`s benefit? Besides, ERT has registered Avlis on 15630 for 23 hours a day anyway, much of which is wooden. IRRS will not protest to ERA about it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDIA. AIR National Channel, 9425 with news in English at 1431 Nov 4; so where is the Aligarh blob today? Weak signals, but seems mushy centered around 9460 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. VOI still missing from 9525v/9526v for the fourth day, Nov 4 at 1432 check. 11785? See SAUDI ARABIA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ISRAEL [and non]. 11595, OM public-speaking emphatically in Persian, Nov 4 at 1526, interspersed with calm comments by studio YL. If it`s in Persian, can`t be Iran, since they modestly refuse to broadcast their own language on SW, except I suppose for clips quickly translated. Instead this is the only remaining external service from Kol Israel, 1500-1630, 250 kW, 27 degrees. Modulation is a bit rough, and bothered by Praga from 11600 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MAURITANIA. ORTM, reactivated on 4845 after several weeks` silence, Nov 4 at 0625 with usual undermodulated low-key chanting, which seems designed to put listeners to sleep rather than awaken them; ute QRM on hi side evitable by tuning to lo side. At the very western tip of Africa, 4845 can hold up amazingly long in Nov-Jan with latest sunrises, all the way to 0800 or whenever they switch to daytime frequency 7245; has that been reactivated too? Revival of 4845 all-night will again facilitate MW DXers` identifying MW // 783.
Tnx to Jari Savolainen who first reported 4845 resumed at 1740 Nov 3. Ron Howard says 4845 was off by 0111 Nov 4, so apparently not really all-night, and what I heard at 0143 may have been Brasil instead (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO [and non]. Never mind my previous comment that XEPPM 6185 had only a half-hour in the clear around 0620-0650. Nov 4 at 0635, Brasília is already on and way on top, but always with rumbling lo het since Mexico is off-frequency. RNA sign-on // 11780 apparently varies, so one really needs to sit on 6185 in the 06-07 period and see what happen (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SAUDI ARABIA [and non]. 11785 with weak Saudi-style buzz, Nov 4 at 1440 as I was searching for missing Indonesia. Current schedules do not show BSKSA there, but the B-08 in WRTH 2009 does! 250 kW Riyadh at 10-17. So it seems this has been resumed in B-09. 13m was not open so could not hear if it was still buzzy on 21505 too.
The huge buzz on 15435, bothering BBC as far away as 15420, was there after 1500, but no sign of it at 1552. The abuzzy // 15225, was OK with Qur`an earlier but it too missing at 1552; both scheduled until 1800 with first program, so power failure, schedule change, or big propagational dropout? Farda was still in well on 15410 from Skelton.
With Cuba missing from 15120, Nov 4 at 1445 could hear weak Qur`an, then talk in presumed Bengali as BSKSA scheduled here at 12-16, 500 kW, 70 degrees from Riyadh. As best as I could tell, it was on 15120.0, which would not account for the audible het previously heard vs Habana (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SUDAN [non]. The muffled CRI English relay signal via CUBA on 13740 at 14-16 is normally big enough to blot out anything else, but Nov 4 just before it closes at 1556 with vamp music, I notice it mixing with something Arabish. Bears more attention another day, as uplooked later, this has to be: R. Dabanga via Wertachtal 500 kW, 150 degrees for Sudan at 1530-1627 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENINGN DIGEST)
** U S A. Air Force MARS net, 7457-SSB, Nov 4 at 1424; strongest signal from AAF4EL, not sure if NCS, several others barely audible, checking in with no traffic, long pauses. Still going at 1446. Google search on that callsign, certain as given phonetically, gets only two false hits (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [non]. 17610, AWR Afar service via Austria, Nov 4 at 1448 with up-and-down, up-and-down music of only a few notes over and over, which could have been a loop, somehow going to convert the Djiboutians to Adventism? Perhaps by hypnosis. 1458 cut to more melodic music by combo until 1459* (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 8001, Nov 4 at 1418, regular CW pulses like time signals, except there are 74 of them per minute. Is this the Japanese propagation research station? Previously clocked at 80 per minute (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
** ANGUILLA [and non]. 11775 missing Nov 5 at 1438 and later after 1500, when University Network is also missing from WWCR 13845, leaving PMS voiceless on SW. If she really cared about being heard 24/7, she would have kept the Cahuita, Costa Rica facility operational for additional redundancy (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** AUSTRIA [and non]. Another check for R. Austria International`s scheduled relay via Canada on 13675: Nov 4 at 1559* ending CRI relay, and nothing further. Still need to confirm whether Austria`s direct transmissions to the Americas still exist, 00-01 on 7325, 01-0130 on 9840 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** BURKINA FASO. Not only Mauritania, but Ouagadougou 5030 was also reactivated Nov 3, says Jari Savolainen, Finland, heard at 1745. This one is not so easy with powerful Rebelde next door. Nov 4 at 0628 there was certainly a carrier on 5030.0 and lo modulation amid Cuban splash. WRTH 2009 shows sked as 0530-0800 and 1700-2400, with daytime frequency 7230 0800-1700; is that reactivated too? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake Nov 4 at 1429: nothing on 8400, 9000; JBA on 10210 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. Missing the last few nights, 6010 with RHC in English was back Nov 4 --- tough luck, Conciencia and Mil, presumably from 0500, found at 0629 in English, Ann(e) Sullivan with news on the half-hour // 6060 and this time 6140 is in English too. She has a peculiar accent I am trying to place. Is she new with RHC? 0636 over to Ed Newman with weekly Focus on Africa, about African influence in Cuban music.
RHC Spanish at 0635 on 6150, 6120; and just barely audible // 11760 at 0642.
DentroCuban Jamming Command pulsing on 9955, Nov 4 at 0640 underneath VG signal from WRMI with Wire Light infomercial. Since it`s UT Wednesday, WRMI is on their NW antenna at this time.
Nov 4 at 1439 started checking for spurs from 11760, but there aren`t any! Yet 11760 is on; seems they have either fixed them, or more likely swapped transmitters, as this one has no underlying whine either, and 15120 is missing at 1445 check, while 15360 is still running. Also on // 11730, distorted 11800. In case the bad unit has been put somewhere else, checked 13 and 15 MHz bands but no RHC spurs there either. I am not foolish enough to imagine this problem be gone for good.
New 11730 being run long hours is not exactly clear for RHC. At 1459 heard RRI IS mixing and opening in Arabic; then Russian too, with RHC the #3 signal beneath these. During this one hour only, RRI via Galbeni at 140 degrees and BBC via Rampisham at 62 degrees are already colliding. Welcome aboard, RHC! At 1559, RHC again with 11730 to itself.
At 1500, non-Tony RHC announcer on 11760 listed these frequencies: 13770 (correct!), 11730, 11760, 11800, 6110. But he did not say ``11780`` this time even tho the real frequency that represented, 11690, was up and running by 1507 with usual RTTY QRM.
At 1501 we find RHC 11800 even more distorted than usual, and audio breaking up. 11760 carrier is cutting off and on, and modulation cutting off and on during the periods carrier is on; breakups not synchronized with 11800. At 1507, 11760 is mostly off, 1510 back with open carrier; 1523 staying on with modulation.
The poor Venezuelans also get messed up by the incompetent Cubans, but hey, they`re co-religionists, so give them a pass, and keep shipping the oil. RNV relay supposed to be on 11680 at 15-16, but nothing there at 1504, except something else weak in Arabic, i.e. BBC via Rampisham. Finally at *1505:30 on comes the Cuban transmitter joining program in progress, but modulation cutting off and on --- oops, it`s RHC // 11730 and 11800. Finally at 1507 cut over to RNV programming (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CYPRUS. Strong OTH radar pulses, presumed from here, Nov 4 at 1443 covering 14900-14930. Also at 1525, 11432-11460 approximately (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** EQUATORIAL GUINEA [and non]. 6250, RNGE had been missing for several weeks, but Nov 4 at 0631 there is something in Spanish on 6250.0, ute QRM. Checked RHC on 49m to be sure not a // mixing product. 0632 seems into music, but fading and soon gone or off. Used to cut on irregularly sometime between 0530 and 0600. Polisario in as usual on 6297, and it holds up later being far to the NW of Malabo. A banner day for African reactivations, along with Burkina Faso and Mauritania, qq.vv. (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GREECE. VOG, 15650, clashing with Miraya FM, Sudan via Slovakia, early in the 1500 UT hour Nov 4, so when will Athens get off the frequency? At 1553 still mixing with music, but off at 1554*, and a minute later *1555 comes up in mid-song on 15630, clearing 15650 for IRRS. Now why couldn`t they do this 55 minutes earlier, to everyone`s benefit? Besides, ERT has registered Avlis on 15630 for 23 hours a day anyway, much of which is wooden. IRRS will not protest to ERA about it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDIA. AIR National Channel, 9425 with news in English at 1431 Nov 4; so where is the Aligarh blob today? Weak signals, but seems mushy centered around 9460 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. VOI still missing from 9525v/9526v for the fourth day, Nov 4 at 1432 check. 11785? See SAUDI ARABIA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ISRAEL [and non]. 11595, OM public-speaking emphatically in Persian, Nov 4 at 1526, interspersed with calm comments by studio YL. If it`s in Persian, can`t be Iran, since they modestly refuse to broadcast their own language on SW, except I suppose for clips quickly translated. Instead this is the only remaining external service from Kol Israel, 1500-1630, 250 kW, 27 degrees. Modulation is a bit rough, and bothered by Praga from 11600 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MAURITANIA. ORTM, reactivated on 4845 after several weeks` silence, Nov 4 at 0625 with usual undermodulated low-key chanting, which seems designed to put listeners to sleep rather than awaken them; ute QRM on hi side evitable by tuning to lo side. At the very western tip of Africa, 4845 can hold up amazingly long in Nov-Jan with latest sunrises, all the way to 0800 or whenever they switch to daytime frequency 7245; has that been reactivated too? Revival of 4845 all-night will again facilitate MW DXers` identifying MW // 783.
Tnx to Jari Savolainen who first reported 4845 resumed at 1740 Nov 3. Ron Howard says 4845 was off by 0111 Nov 4, so apparently not really all-night, and what I heard at 0143 may have been Brasil instead (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO [and non]. Never mind my previous comment that XEPPM 6185 had only a half-hour in the clear around 0620-0650. Nov 4 at 0635, Brasília is already on and way on top, but always with rumbling lo het since Mexico is off-frequency. RNA sign-on // 11780 apparently varies, so one really needs to sit on 6185 in the 06-07 period and see what happen (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SAUDI ARABIA [and non]. 11785 with weak Saudi-style buzz, Nov 4 at 1440 as I was searching for missing Indonesia. Current schedules do not show BSKSA there, but the B-08 in WRTH 2009 does! 250 kW Riyadh at 10-17. So it seems this has been resumed in B-09. 13m was not open so could not hear if it was still buzzy on 21505 too.
The huge buzz on 15435, bothering BBC as far away as 15420, was there after 1500, but no sign of it at 1552. The abuzzy // 15225, was OK with Qur`an earlier but it too missing at 1552; both scheduled until 1800 with first program, so power failure, schedule change, or big propagational dropout? Farda was still in well on 15410 from Skelton.
With Cuba missing from 15120, Nov 4 at 1445 could hear weak Qur`an, then talk in presumed Bengali as BSKSA scheduled here at 12-16, 500 kW, 70 degrees from Riyadh. As best as I could tell, it was on 15120.0, which would not account for the audible het previously heard vs Habana (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SUDAN [non]. The muffled CRI English relay signal via CUBA on 13740 at 14-16 is normally big enough to blot out anything else, but Nov 4 just before it closes at 1556 with vamp music, I notice it mixing with something Arabish. Bears more attention another day, as uplooked later, this has to be: R. Dabanga via Wertachtal 500 kW, 150 degrees for Sudan at 1530-1627 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENINGN DIGEST)
** U S A. Air Force MARS net, 7457-SSB, Nov 4 at 1424; strongest signal from AAF4EL, not sure if NCS, several others barely audible, checking in with no traffic, long pauses. Still going at 1446. Google search on that callsign, certain as given phonetically, gets only two false hits (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [non]. 17610, AWR Afar service via Austria, Nov 4 at 1448 with up-and-down, up-and-down music of only a few notes over and over, which could have been a loop, somehow going to convert the Djiboutians to Adventism? Perhaps by hypnosis. 1458 cut to more melodic music by combo until 1459* (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 8001, Nov 4 at 1418, regular CW pulses like time signals, except there are 74 of them per minute. Is this the Japanese propagation research station? Previously clocked at 80 per minute (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
