** BRAZIL. 11925, R. Bandeirantes, SP, Dec 14 at 0708 with 5:08 timecheck, report on Copenhagen demonstrations with constant music bed indicating they are not serious about purveying news; deep fades but fair peaks, even better than 11780 RNA with 25x the nominal power --- but the latter signal suffering due to desensitizing effect on the receiver by super-strong Cuba 11760 too close to it. WRTH 2010 shows 11925 as *inactive, certainly not the case as we and others have reported it frequently in the past months (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake Dec 14 at 1422: very poor on 8400 with heavy flutter; inaudible on 9000, 10210, 11300. Ron Howard in California thinx Sound of Hope has changed schedule to emphasize local morning broadcasts, when he hears lots of FD on several frequencies (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA [and non]. 9955, WRMI jamming against, by DCJC seemed worse than ever, Dec 14 at 0702, not only the usual roar, but additional whiny noise mixed in for a different sound. Possibly ramped up by Arnie in retaliation for being confronted with the jamming issue?
Without embargo, a bit of WRMI Spanish remained audible, same at 0708.
What show is being jammed? Odds are it`s a preacher rather than a FueraCuban. The latest WRMI program grid we have, dated Nov 1, shows English UT Mondays at 0700 = 2 am EST, the Wire Light Infomercial, so something must have changed. Certain other days of the week it`s listed as a Radio Prague bonus but that too should be in English. See also CZECHIA [non].
RHC, Dec 14: Once again I have heard the Spanish DX program ``En Contacto`` at a secret unscheduled time, not mentioned by them or in José Bueno`s weekly publicity about the show on several romance-language DX lists: on 6150 and 6120, ending at 0651 UT Monday, so started at 0636.
Before 0700, 6140 was in English but at 0710 it was in Spanish with music // and in synch with super-strong 11760, while 6150 and 6120 were synched with each other but not 11760/6140, an echo apart. 6010 was off, while 6060 remained on in English (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CZECHIA [and non]. DentroCuban Jamming Command was as usual blowing away WRMI with a wall of noise on 9955, during the 1400 UT hour Dec 14. But jamming abated during R. Prague English relay from 1500. WRMI probably still not back on NW antenna but absence of jamming audiblized the SSE antenna, poor and fading but building a bit to S9+15 by 1510 when Prague had a talk for the third Sunday of Advent, about a cleric faking something.
Before that, the Sunday mailbag segment from 1504 (as always 24 hours late on the WRMI 1500 UT relay), at 1507 was answering listeners, Lenfant Lee in China, Yukiko Maki in Japan, Thaddea (?) Nielson (?) in New Zealand, about future of its own SWBC, but could not copy details. So found the audio on demand at http://helix.radio.cz:8080/ramgen/rm/EN/09/12/EN091213-14-high.rm
And this is what she said: ``At the moment all we can say is that the status quo will be maintained until February 1, 2010. What will happen after that date is still the subject of discussion between Czech Radio and the Foreign Ministry. We will of course update you on the matter as soon as we know more. In the meantime, thank you for your interest and support.`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. 9526v, no trace even of a carrier from VOI, Dec 14 at 1434 during Malay hour, and nothing on 9525 either this hour to block it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** IRAN. 9575, GIRI, Russian service via Sirjan site, Dec 14 at 1433 had good signal tho fluttery, but just barely modulated (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** JAPAN. 3925, R. Nikkei, already audible in Japanese at 0714 Dec 14, i.e. 16:14 JST, tnx to earliest sunsets now. Hams kept away for the moment. Nothing audible on 3945, another Nikkei or Vanuatu frequency, except SSB nearby. 6055 was also audible before 0700, and one might hear it as early as 0600 when Spain closes (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KOREA SOUTH. 9640, Dec 14 at 1427, slow notes on vibes (?), interspersed with YL IDs in Korean starting ``Radio Hangkuk. . .``
So I knew it had to be KBS, altho uplooked later on page 454 of the 2010 WRTH, the Korean ID quoted does not simply say that! Poor signal by comparison to KBS Korean via Sackville on 9650 which was slightly splattering. At 1430, 9640 switched to Vietnamese, which chex with WRTH 2010; and in Aoki, this is the only semihour that KBSWR is now using 9640, 100 kW, 225 degrees from Kimjae.
WRTH says the IS is ``Oh Bright Moon``, a children`s song played on glockenspiel. Can`t say I am familiar with it preceding English broadcasts (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SAUDI ARABIA. Dec 14 at 1455 just as Spain closed 15385, I was hearing buzzes here and there, on and off from 15375 up past 15500, suspected as attempts to turn on the Buzzing Service of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia transmitter, nominal 15435. But nothing of any of that at 1501. It was sure on at next check 1514, blotting 15410-15450 with horrible ratchety frying noise; as BSKSA reinforces the evidence each day that their engineering is totally incompetent (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN. REE Emisión Sefarad, 15385, Monday-only, Dec 14 at 1442 in Castilian at the moment, interview explaining janucá; 1446 back to Ladino for feature about anniversaries, such as the 100th of the death of composer Isaac Albéniz, 1450 guitar playing a tango by another composer; 1452 upwrapping with e-mail address sefarad @ rtve.es and 1453 sign-off, schedule, back to giving wrong frequency! Claimed to ME/Mediterranean Mon 1425 on 15325! Tue 0115 to SAm 11780 [so colliding with Brasília, or really on 11795 as otherwise announced? I have yet to confirm which]; and Tue 0415 to NAm on 9690. Gave REE 6-digit PO Box address, e-mail again, fanfare and cut off at 1455* before it could resolve.
15385 back on weaker a few minutes later with REE regular Castililan service. Sefarad reception was very good today on 15385 here far from the target area. I always enjoy the music and the `strange Spanish` spoken (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [and non]. Big problem at The University Network, Dec 14 at 0656: PMS audio cutting on for a split second, then cutting off with a thumping sound, over and over averaging once per second but irregularly, sometimes on for more than a split second. This was occurring in synch on both Anguilla 6090 and WWCR 5935, so obviously occurs somewhere upstream from either radio station --- could be anywhere from TUN studio in LA to the satellite transponder. This continued thru 0700 with music bits and studio announcer with 800 number, etc. (neither station bothers to insert a local ID at hourtop). Still the same well past 0700. Is no one paying attention in LA, aboard the satellite, at Nashville or The Valley?
Not checked again until 0716 when 5935 had become OK, while 6090 was still upbreaking. In fact, they were no longer //, so someone was paying attention at WWCR, where they must have switched to an in-house backup recording. It all sounds the same, anyway, so it`s remarkable that TUN doesn`t dump the satellite expenses and just play a one-hour CD over and over at transmitter stations! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. The dirty 13845 parasitic from WEWN`s 13835 transmitter, quite strong on the fundamental, was way atop weak PMS via WWCR on 13845, Dec 14 at 1438. This has gone on for years, plus and minus 10 kHz from at least one WEWN transmitter. You`d think the victims such as WWCR and WYFR would raise hell about it. Maybe because they are not without sin? Long ago, when I brought it to the attention of WEWN, they tried to blame it on my receiver, and still haven`t fixed it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WJHR check of 15550-USB, Dec 14 at 1440: nothing. However, at 1501 it was on and heard it weakly with same ID I recorded on first log anywhere six days earlier, then into gospel music and preacher. Compared it to its nearest neighbor geographically and frequencially, WEWN on 15610: that signal was S9+8 with fading, certainly not solid, but incontrovertibly on and transmitting Xmas music.
15550-USB was poor, just barely audible, and at next check 1515 was gone --- cannot tell if it went off the air or propagation resumed being unfavorable after a brief opening. I had thought WJHR was off the air Sunday morning Dec 13, but Brian Alexander, PA, managed to hear it weakly at 1615-1650 between my two chex at 1505 and 1720 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WRMI, 9955: see CUBA [and non]; CZECHIA [and non]
** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. 6297v, LV de la RASD providing some rollicking good music in the nightmiddle, Dec 14 at 0720, with ululating and wailing, still good signal at 0756 last check (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
** CHINA. Firedrake Dec 14 at 1422: very poor on 8400 with heavy flutter; inaudible on 9000, 10210, 11300. Ron Howard in California thinx Sound of Hope has changed schedule to emphasize local morning broadcasts, when he hears lots of FD on several frequencies (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA [and non]. 9955, WRMI jamming against, by DCJC seemed worse than ever, Dec 14 at 0702, not only the usual roar, but additional whiny noise mixed in for a different sound. Possibly ramped up by Arnie in retaliation for being confronted with the jamming issue?
Without embargo, a bit of WRMI Spanish remained audible, same at 0708.
What show is being jammed? Odds are it`s a preacher rather than a FueraCuban. The latest WRMI program grid we have, dated Nov 1, shows English UT Mondays at 0700 = 2 am EST, the Wire Light Infomercial, so something must have changed. Certain other days of the week it`s listed as a Radio Prague bonus but that too should be in English. See also CZECHIA [non].
RHC, Dec 14: Once again I have heard the Spanish DX program ``En Contacto`` at a secret unscheduled time, not mentioned by them or in José Bueno`s weekly publicity about the show on several romance-language DX lists: on 6150 and 6120, ending at 0651 UT Monday, so started at 0636.
Before 0700, 6140 was in English but at 0710 it was in Spanish with music // and in synch with super-strong 11760, while 6150 and 6120 were synched with each other but not 11760/6140, an echo apart. 6010 was off, while 6060 remained on in English (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CZECHIA [and non]. DentroCuban Jamming Command was as usual blowing away WRMI with a wall of noise on 9955, during the 1400 UT hour Dec 14. But jamming abated during R. Prague English relay from 1500. WRMI probably still not back on NW antenna but absence of jamming audiblized the SSE antenna, poor and fading but building a bit to S9+15 by 1510 when Prague had a talk for the third Sunday of Advent, about a cleric faking something.
Before that, the Sunday mailbag segment from 1504 (as always 24 hours late on the WRMI 1500 UT relay), at 1507 was answering listeners, Lenfant Lee in China, Yukiko Maki in Japan, Thaddea (?) Nielson (?) in New Zealand, about future of its own SWBC, but could not copy details. So found the audio on demand at http://helix.radio.cz:8080/ramgen/rm/EN/09/12/EN091213-14-high.rm
And this is what she said: ``At the moment all we can say is that the status quo will be maintained until February 1, 2010. What will happen after that date is still the subject of discussion between Czech Radio and the Foreign Ministry. We will of course update you on the matter as soon as we know more. In the meantime, thank you for your interest and support.`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. 9526v, no trace even of a carrier from VOI, Dec 14 at 1434 during Malay hour, and nothing on 9525 either this hour to block it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** IRAN. 9575, GIRI, Russian service via Sirjan site, Dec 14 at 1433 had good signal tho fluttery, but just barely modulated (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** JAPAN. 3925, R. Nikkei, already audible in Japanese at 0714 Dec 14, i.e. 16:14 JST, tnx to earliest sunsets now. Hams kept away for the moment. Nothing audible on 3945, another Nikkei or Vanuatu frequency, except SSB nearby. 6055 was also audible before 0700, and one might hear it as early as 0600 when Spain closes (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KOREA SOUTH. 9640, Dec 14 at 1427, slow notes on vibes (?), interspersed with YL IDs in Korean starting ``Radio Hangkuk. . .``
So I knew it had to be KBS, altho uplooked later on page 454 of the 2010 WRTH, the Korean ID quoted does not simply say that! Poor signal by comparison to KBS Korean via Sackville on 9650 which was slightly splattering. At 1430, 9640 switched to Vietnamese, which chex with WRTH 2010; and in Aoki, this is the only semihour that KBSWR is now using 9640, 100 kW, 225 degrees from Kimjae.
WRTH says the IS is ``Oh Bright Moon``, a children`s song played on glockenspiel. Can`t say I am familiar with it preceding English broadcasts (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SAUDI ARABIA. Dec 14 at 1455 just as Spain closed 15385, I was hearing buzzes here and there, on and off from 15375 up past 15500, suspected as attempts to turn on the Buzzing Service of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia transmitter, nominal 15435. But nothing of any of that at 1501. It was sure on at next check 1514, blotting 15410-15450 with horrible ratchety frying noise; as BSKSA reinforces the evidence each day that their engineering is totally incompetent (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN. REE Emisión Sefarad, 15385, Monday-only, Dec 14 at 1442 in Castilian at the moment, interview explaining janucá; 1446 back to Ladino for feature about anniversaries, such as the 100th of the death of composer Isaac Albéniz, 1450 guitar playing a tango by another composer; 1452 upwrapping with e-mail address sefarad @ rtve.es and 1453 sign-off, schedule, back to giving wrong frequency! Claimed to ME/Mediterranean Mon 1425 on 15325! Tue 0115 to SAm 11780 [so colliding with Brasília, or really on 11795 as otherwise announced? I have yet to confirm which]; and Tue 0415 to NAm on 9690. Gave REE 6-digit PO Box address, e-mail again, fanfare and cut off at 1455* before it could resolve.
15385 back on weaker a few minutes later with REE regular Castililan service. Sefarad reception was very good today on 15385 here far from the target area. I always enjoy the music and the `strange Spanish` spoken (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [and non]. Big problem at The University Network, Dec 14 at 0656: PMS audio cutting on for a split second, then cutting off with a thumping sound, over and over averaging once per second but irregularly, sometimes on for more than a split second. This was occurring in synch on both Anguilla 6090 and WWCR 5935, so obviously occurs somewhere upstream from either radio station --- could be anywhere from TUN studio in LA to the satellite transponder. This continued thru 0700 with music bits and studio announcer with 800 number, etc. (neither station bothers to insert a local ID at hourtop). Still the same well past 0700. Is no one paying attention in LA, aboard the satellite, at Nashville or The Valley?
Not checked again until 0716 when 5935 had become OK, while 6090 was still upbreaking. In fact, they were no longer //, so someone was paying attention at WWCR, where they must have switched to an in-house backup recording. It all sounds the same, anyway, so it`s remarkable that TUN doesn`t dump the satellite expenses and just play a one-hour CD over and over at transmitter stations! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. The dirty 13845 parasitic from WEWN`s 13835 transmitter, quite strong on the fundamental, was way atop weak PMS via WWCR on 13845, Dec 14 at 1438. This has gone on for years, plus and minus 10 kHz from at least one WEWN transmitter. You`d think the victims such as WWCR and WYFR would raise hell about it. Maybe because they are not without sin? Long ago, when I brought it to the attention of WEWN, they tried to blame it on my receiver, and still haven`t fixed it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WJHR check of 15550-USB, Dec 14 at 1440: nothing. However, at 1501 it was on and heard it weakly with same ID I recorded on first log anywhere six days earlier, then into gospel music and preacher. Compared it to its nearest neighbor geographically and frequencially, WEWN on 15610: that signal was S9+8 with fading, certainly not solid, but incontrovertibly on and transmitting Xmas music.
15550-USB was poor, just barely audible, and at next check 1515 was gone --- cannot tell if it went off the air or propagation resumed being unfavorable after a brief opening. I had thought WJHR was off the air Sunday morning Dec 13, but Brian Alexander, PA, managed to hear it weakly at 1615-1650 between my two chex at 1505 and 1720 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WRMI, 9955: see CUBA [and non]; CZECHIA [and non]
** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. 6297v, LV de la RASD providing some rollicking good music in the nightmiddle, Dec 14 at 0720, with ululating and wailing, still good signal at 0756 last check (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
