** ARGENTINA. In the Paraná DX Clube group, Luiz Chaine Neto in São Paulo raises the question, why did RAE take its 25 and 19m band transmitters off the air? Maybe Gabriel Iván Barrera knows. As a matter of fact, this reminds me that I have not heard any trace of RAE on 11711v or 15345v for some weeks. These were very old transmitters, so perhaps have finally died (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1493, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. CNR1 echo jamming running on both 6030 and 6040, Dec 30 at 1303, but different victims underneath. What`s trying to go on here?
Aoki shows 6030 at 13-14 with Ming Hui Radio, 100 kW, 325 degrees from Tanshui, Taiwan, altho that was an A-09 schedule, and *jammed. CNR1 is also scheduled on 6030 from the Beijing 572 site, 1955-0600 & 0900-1735, but the ChiCom ruin their own broadcast in order to drive away listeners to Ming Hui; CNR1 has countless other frequencies so this one is certainly expendable.
What`s Ming Hui? WRTH 2010 classifies it as clandestine/target, on page 497, as Falun Gong-affiliated, a sister station to Sound of Hope, HQ in New York, 24h a day via satellite, but only this one hour on SW.
On 6040, the offender is VOA in Chinese, 13-14, 250 kW, 30 degrees via THAILAND. In this case, CNR1 is not even pretending to have a legitimate broadcast on the frequency; like a spoiled child, yelling so that he cannot hear what anyone is trying to tell him for his own good (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. Some frequencies missing Dec 30 at 1520: no RHC 6110, which was good news for Yucatán 6104.7, see MEXICO; and no Rebelde on 5025, which despite the late hour this time of year should have been at least detectable, good news for China/Malaysia 5030, see UNIDENTIFIED. RHC was still going e.g. on 11760, 11800, so only a partial power failure, or antenna/transmitter work at one of the sites? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ECUADOR. 6050, no doubt HCJB the station in Spanish, Dec 30 at 1301, preaching about praying, and hetting always-off-frequency Asian on lo side, no doubt Malaysia. Terry Krueger, FL says HCJB was missing Dec 27, but we hear it back today. Surely this is via the replacement Pichincha site for some time now, but it would be nice to know exactly when the Pifo transmitter left the air (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** HONDURAS [and non]. 3250, Dec 30 at 1255 in Spanish giving phone numbers, then Feliz Navidad y Próspero Año Nuevo wishes from businesses, no doubt R. Luz y Vida; and with fast SAH of some 15 Hz, no doubt P`yongyang, which was also audible on 2850, 3320 plus the higher jammers; see KOREA NORTH (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. Third day in a row with no sign of a signal from VOI on 9526v, Dec 30 at various chex between 1300 and 1500 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KOREA NORTH. Juche jammer check Dec 30 at 1256: 3985, noise mixing with Korean; 3480, just jamming, tone-modulated pulses. However, on 4450 music and then assertive Korean talk, no jamming; 4557 just open carrier vs CODAR. Just before that, had detected NK broadcasters on 2850, 3250, 3320 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. 6104.7, XEQM, Mérida, Dec 30 at 1308, YL in Spanish, vs splash from Cuba 6110 and also squeezed by weaker 6100 signal. No het but confirmed off-frequency by comparing to 15105.0. At 1520 Cuba was off 6110, and 6104.7 detectable, but now a het from something on 6105.0 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NETHERLANDS [non]. Re my previous questions about RNW`s Arabic service via RWANDA on 9895 at 2200-2257 --- Andy Sennitt explains that they currently have funding for programming only M-F, but it costs no more to stay on the air Sat & Sun too, thus the music fill. Calling it ``Huna Amsterdam`` was a pragmatic decision since more Arabs would recognize Amsterdam than Hilversum --- and RN did even have an English program, ``Amsterdam Forum`` which was mostly recorded in Hilversum.
I still think it`s a shame that Holland`s historic radio city is so self-deprecating, suburbanly abandoning its legacy to the metropolis (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1493, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ROMANIA. If up early enough, North Americans can hear RRI in English in our mornings: Dec 30 at 1244 an historical talk about the Securitate (Communist-era secret police), and 1245 on to another historical subject, a royal palace. Ran across it first on 11970, where it was the best if not the only signal making it from Europe on the band, and then also on weaker 15105, the two frequencies aimed UK- and US-ward at 12-13 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. Still QRXing for the first appearance of WTWW, Lebanon TN: owner/operator/engineer George McClintock told me Dec 29 that the ex-KAIJ transmitter had to be kept in storage longer than expected so some things deteriorated, still requiring repair or replacement, such as rubber parts, beryllium springs holding tubes, etc., so not likely to start this year. Also, despite what Pastor Pete Peters may think and be publicizing, no final commitment on programming has been made, which in any event will only follow after a period of testing (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. Boldly looking for Radio Symban, 2368.5, tho there were only very weak carriers from the 100 kW 120m Aussies, Dec 30 at 1249, I was hearing instead a beacon with nothing but A2 ID over and over, ``LSA`` --- a beacon on 120m? Could it be an harmonic?
Yes! Searching on that call at http://www.dxinfocentre.com/ndb.htm we find LSA is in Lamesa TX, on 338 kHz, and SEVEN x 338 = 2366. It had been hard to pin down the exact frequency as it was beating against another (?) carrier producing negative keying, i.e. a tone when there should be silence. Lamesa is S of Lubbock on the way to Midessa, due east of Hobbs NM. It really helps to tune 120m with BFO on, more effective against the noise level, and also upturning signals like this otherwise missed, not a bad substitute for Symban, but also could bloQRM it elsewhere (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [and non]. WRMI observations on 9955, Dec 30: at 1239 preacher in English, good signal, no jamming audible. Seems it usually starts just before 1300 when Radio Cuba Libre used to air. Wavescan had been scheduled at 1230 Wednesdays, but apparently not today unless I caught them in a devotional break. Pulse rather than wall jamming was still going at 1542 vs something in Spanish, when DX Partyline was previously scheduled. At 1635, could barely detect new WORLD OF RADIO 1493 at its first airing, but no jamming audible. Apparently WRMI is still not able to use its NW antenna during the 15-17 block (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. As I tuned by WYFR, 15210, Dec 30 at 1507, paused for a moment as an Open Forum caller told Mr. Camping, ``If 2011 comes and goes, you`ll be a basket-case`` (implying he is not already). But he replied with absolute certainty: ``May 21, 2011 will be the end of the Gospel --- it absolutely will happen!!`` We can hardly wait for the Rapture to get rid of all the wackos on earth, taking Family Radio with them. Trouble is, he has done this end-of-world date-predicting a few times before with embarrassing results, but ever-optimistic.
15785, Dec 30 at 1615, VG signal in Arabic, this one hour only, as scheduled northeastward from WYFR, despite being northwestward from O`bee. No sign of Galei Tsahal, ISRAEL on or near the frequency, and since it`s not in HFCC, the WYFR frequency manager might not have been aware of it, surely causing a collision in the target area. However, have not heard GZ at any time for quite a while on 19m, so is it inactive? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 13570, Dec 30 at 1613 tuneby, the unmistakable monotone of convicted child-sex-offending evangelist Tony Alamo, good signal on WINB interfering with CODAR, now almost seven weeks since he was sentenced to 175 years in prison, inconsequential for this SW station of the scum (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. Trans-Pacific MW carrier scan, Dec 30 from 1318 to 1332 UT, on the DX-398 inside, with AC power and built-in ferrite antenna only, hand-held aimed more or less NW, tuning in 9 kHz steps with BFO on which is slightly off-frequency producing a telltale het whenever there is a carrier, even a very weak one only 1 kHz from a 10-kHz channel: rearranged here in descending order, not exactly the order I was tuning: 1566, 1548, 1475, 1457, 1332, 1323, 1314, 1287, 1224, 1197, 1179, 1134, 1116, 1089, 1053, 1044, 1035, 972, 873, 828, 783, 774, 711, 693-, 666, 621, 612, 603, 594.
None really strong enough to pull any audio here in deep North America, not even NHK 774, but the standouts are off-channel 1475 which must be Malaysia/Sabah, and 693 considerably off-frequency to the lo side, but I don`t find any leads on that. This just shows all the DX that is hiding between the big NAm signals; and every 90 kHz, no doubt also directly under them (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 5030, CNR1 as usual the best/only signal from Asia holding up late on 60m, Dec 30 at 1523, still at 1541, but also as always with rippling subaudible heterodyne from a co-channel station which never manages to overcome China. It was doing better than usual this time, with some music audible; and Rebelde`s absence from 5025 was a plus.
We don`t see how the other 5030 station could be anything but Malaysia Sarawak, 10 kW nondirexional, as nothing else is listed or could possibly be propagating at this hour. It`s still a remarkable performance against the 100 kW Beijing transmitter aimed 37 degrees USward. If only the Beijing 572 site would ever go off the air --- or if only Sarawak would have the good sense to move to a clear frequency (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 5900, Dec 30 until 1306* open carrier, with a bit of hum/noise upon it. Per Aoki, most likely slow to turn off Pet/Kam transmitter scheduled with IBRA Radio True Light in Chinese at 12-13; altho another TRW client might be on 5900 via Novosibirsk until 1330 (Glenn Hasuer, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 9790, very strong S9+22 and steady open carrier at 1607-1611:45* Dec 30. Only thing scheduled this hour is R. Liberty in Russian, due northeast from Wertachtal, but I bet it was Greenville with another warmup test on a frequency otherwise unused (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 13800, Dec 30 at 1614 continuous tone test, fair signal. This had been R. Dabanga, for Sudan at 1530-1627 via Talata-Volondry, Madagascar, until the Xmas fire putting the relay station completely off the air. The Media Network blog updates on replacement transmissions show:
Update 6: The following transmissions via Nauen have been added from 28 December: 1627-1727 UTC Press Now multilingual on 13800 kHz (250 kW) azimuth 325 degrees
Update 8: TDF will carry a Press Now transmission from 29 December as follows: 1529-1557 UTC via Issoudun on 13800 kHz azimuth 143 degrees (replaces a 60-minute broadcast)
So that leaves a semi-hour gap, but which site would be running the tone? Perhaps this is relevant, just updated on the MN blog:
``On 30 December, our Station Manager in Madagascar reported that the two Philips transmitters are in working order, and have been tested using generator power. Technicians are still working on restoring the mains supply and will finish tomorrow (31 December). A temporary schedule will then be put into effect on 1 January using these two Philips transmitters.
``The other two transmitters (one 250 kW and one 50 kW) are also thought to be OK, but still have to be tested at the weekend. New switches also have to be installed to connect these two transmitters to the antenna system. We hope to bring them back on the air in the course of next week.
``Tomorrow (31 December) I will publish details of the interim schedule which has been worked out for next week using two transmitters at Madagascar. In the meantime, the temporary arrangements are still valid`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, 1920 UT Dec 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
** CHINA. CNR1 echo jamming running on both 6030 and 6040, Dec 30 at 1303, but different victims underneath. What`s trying to go on here?
Aoki shows 6030 at 13-14 with Ming Hui Radio, 100 kW, 325 degrees from Tanshui, Taiwan, altho that was an A-09 schedule, and *jammed. CNR1 is also scheduled on 6030 from the Beijing 572 site, 1955-0600 & 0900-1735, but the ChiCom ruin their own broadcast in order to drive away listeners to Ming Hui; CNR1 has countless other frequencies so this one is certainly expendable.
What`s Ming Hui? WRTH 2010 classifies it as clandestine/target, on page 497, as Falun Gong-affiliated, a sister station to Sound of Hope, HQ in New York, 24h a day via satellite, but only this one hour on SW.
On 6040, the offender is VOA in Chinese, 13-14, 250 kW, 30 degrees via THAILAND. In this case, CNR1 is not even pretending to have a legitimate broadcast on the frequency; like a spoiled child, yelling so that he cannot hear what anyone is trying to tell him for his own good (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. Some frequencies missing Dec 30 at 1520: no RHC 6110, which was good news for Yucatán 6104.7, see MEXICO; and no Rebelde on 5025, which despite the late hour this time of year should have been at least detectable, good news for China/Malaysia 5030, see UNIDENTIFIED. RHC was still going e.g. on 11760, 11800, so only a partial power failure, or antenna/transmitter work at one of the sites? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ECUADOR. 6050, no doubt HCJB the station in Spanish, Dec 30 at 1301, preaching about praying, and hetting always-off-frequency Asian on lo side, no doubt Malaysia. Terry Krueger, FL says HCJB was missing Dec 27, but we hear it back today. Surely this is via the replacement Pichincha site for some time now, but it would be nice to know exactly when the Pifo transmitter left the air (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** HONDURAS [and non]. 3250, Dec 30 at 1255 in Spanish giving phone numbers, then Feliz Navidad y Próspero Año Nuevo wishes from businesses, no doubt R. Luz y Vida; and with fast SAH of some 15 Hz, no doubt P`yongyang, which was also audible on 2850, 3320 plus the higher jammers; see KOREA NORTH (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. Third day in a row with no sign of a signal from VOI on 9526v, Dec 30 at various chex between 1300 and 1500 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KOREA NORTH. Juche jammer check Dec 30 at 1256: 3985, noise mixing with Korean; 3480, just jamming, tone-modulated pulses. However, on 4450 music and then assertive Korean talk, no jamming; 4557 just open carrier vs CODAR. Just before that, had detected NK broadcasters on 2850, 3250, 3320 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. 6104.7, XEQM, Mérida, Dec 30 at 1308, YL in Spanish, vs splash from Cuba 6110 and also squeezed by weaker 6100 signal. No het but confirmed off-frequency by comparing to 15105.0. At 1520 Cuba was off 6110, and 6104.7 detectable, but now a het from something on 6105.0 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NETHERLANDS [non]. Re my previous questions about RNW`s Arabic service via RWANDA on 9895 at 2200-2257 --- Andy Sennitt explains that they currently have funding for programming only M-F, but it costs no more to stay on the air Sat & Sun too, thus the music fill. Calling it ``Huna Amsterdam`` was a pragmatic decision since more Arabs would recognize Amsterdam than Hilversum --- and RN did even have an English program, ``Amsterdam Forum`` which was mostly recorded in Hilversum.
I still think it`s a shame that Holland`s historic radio city is so self-deprecating, suburbanly abandoning its legacy to the metropolis (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1493, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ROMANIA. If up early enough, North Americans can hear RRI in English in our mornings: Dec 30 at 1244 an historical talk about the Securitate (Communist-era secret police), and 1245 on to another historical subject, a royal palace. Ran across it first on 11970, where it was the best if not the only signal making it from Europe on the band, and then also on weaker 15105, the two frequencies aimed UK- and US-ward at 12-13 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. Still QRXing for the first appearance of WTWW, Lebanon TN: owner/operator/engineer George McClintock told me Dec 29 that the ex-KAIJ transmitter had to be kept in storage longer than expected so some things deteriorated, still requiring repair or replacement, such as rubber parts, beryllium springs holding tubes, etc., so not likely to start this year. Also, despite what Pastor Pete Peters may think and be publicizing, no final commitment on programming has been made, which in any event will only follow after a period of testing (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. Boldly looking for Radio Symban, 2368.5, tho there were only very weak carriers from the 100 kW 120m Aussies, Dec 30 at 1249, I was hearing instead a beacon with nothing but A2 ID over and over, ``LSA`` --- a beacon on 120m? Could it be an harmonic?
Yes! Searching on that call at http://www.dxinfocentre.com/ndb.htm we find LSA is in Lamesa TX, on 338 kHz, and SEVEN x 338 = 2366. It had been hard to pin down the exact frequency as it was beating against another (?) carrier producing negative keying, i.e. a tone when there should be silence. Lamesa is S of Lubbock on the way to Midessa, due east of Hobbs NM. It really helps to tune 120m with BFO on, more effective against the noise level, and also upturning signals like this otherwise missed, not a bad substitute for Symban, but also could bloQRM it elsewhere (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [and non]. WRMI observations on 9955, Dec 30: at 1239 preacher in English, good signal, no jamming audible. Seems it usually starts just before 1300 when Radio Cuba Libre used to air. Wavescan had been scheduled at 1230 Wednesdays, but apparently not today unless I caught them in a devotional break. Pulse rather than wall jamming was still going at 1542 vs something in Spanish, when DX Partyline was previously scheduled. At 1635, could barely detect new WORLD OF RADIO 1493 at its first airing, but no jamming audible. Apparently WRMI is still not able to use its NW antenna during the 15-17 block (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. As I tuned by WYFR, 15210, Dec 30 at 1507, paused for a moment as an Open Forum caller told Mr. Camping, ``If 2011 comes and goes, you`ll be a basket-case`` (implying he is not already). But he replied with absolute certainty: ``May 21, 2011 will be the end of the Gospel --- it absolutely will happen!!`` We can hardly wait for the Rapture to get rid of all the wackos on earth, taking Family Radio with them. Trouble is, he has done this end-of-world date-predicting a few times before with embarrassing results, but ever-optimistic.
15785, Dec 30 at 1615, VG signal in Arabic, this one hour only, as scheduled northeastward from WYFR, despite being northwestward from O`bee. No sign of Galei Tsahal, ISRAEL on or near the frequency, and since it`s not in HFCC, the WYFR frequency manager might not have been aware of it, surely causing a collision in the target area. However, have not heard GZ at any time for quite a while on 19m, so is it inactive? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 13570, Dec 30 at 1613 tuneby, the unmistakable monotone of convicted child-sex-offending evangelist Tony Alamo, good signal on WINB interfering with CODAR, now almost seven weeks since he was sentenced to 175 years in prison, inconsequential for this SW station of the scum (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. Trans-Pacific MW carrier scan, Dec 30 from 1318 to 1332 UT, on the DX-398 inside, with AC power and built-in ferrite antenna only, hand-held aimed more or less NW, tuning in 9 kHz steps with BFO on which is slightly off-frequency producing a telltale het whenever there is a carrier, even a very weak one only 1 kHz from a 10-kHz channel: rearranged here in descending order, not exactly the order I was tuning: 1566, 1548, 1475, 1457, 1332, 1323, 1314, 1287, 1224, 1197, 1179, 1134, 1116, 1089, 1053, 1044, 1035, 972, 873, 828, 783, 774, 711, 693-, 666, 621, 612, 603, 594.
None really strong enough to pull any audio here in deep North America, not even NHK 774, but the standouts are off-channel 1475 which must be Malaysia/Sabah, and 693 considerably off-frequency to the lo side, but I don`t find any leads on that. This just shows all the DX that is hiding between the big NAm signals; and every 90 kHz, no doubt also directly under them (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 5030, CNR1 as usual the best/only signal from Asia holding up late on 60m, Dec 30 at 1523, still at 1541, but also as always with rippling subaudible heterodyne from a co-channel station which never manages to overcome China. It was doing better than usual this time, with some music audible; and Rebelde`s absence from 5025 was a plus.
We don`t see how the other 5030 station could be anything but Malaysia Sarawak, 10 kW nondirexional, as nothing else is listed or could possibly be propagating at this hour. It`s still a remarkable performance against the 100 kW Beijing transmitter aimed 37 degrees USward. If only the Beijing 572 site would ever go off the air --- or if only Sarawak would have the good sense to move to a clear frequency (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 5900, Dec 30 until 1306* open carrier, with a bit of hum/noise upon it. Per Aoki, most likely slow to turn off Pet/Kam transmitter scheduled with IBRA Radio True Light in Chinese at 12-13; altho another TRW client might be on 5900 via Novosibirsk until 1330 (Glenn Hasuer, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 9790, very strong S9+22 and steady open carrier at 1607-1611:45* Dec 30. Only thing scheduled this hour is R. Liberty in Russian, due northeast from Wertachtal, but I bet it was Greenville with another warmup test on a frequency otherwise unused (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 13800, Dec 30 at 1614 continuous tone test, fair signal. This had been R. Dabanga, for Sudan at 1530-1627 via Talata-Volondry, Madagascar, until the Xmas fire putting the relay station completely off the air. The Media Network blog updates on replacement transmissions show:
Update 6: The following transmissions via Nauen have been added from 28 December: 1627-1727 UTC Press Now multilingual on 13800 kHz (250 kW) azimuth 325 degrees
Update 8: TDF will carry a Press Now transmission from 29 December as follows: 1529-1557 UTC via Issoudun on 13800 kHz azimuth 143 degrees (replaces a 60-minute broadcast)
So that leaves a semi-hour gap, but which site would be running the tone? Perhaps this is relevant, just updated on the MN blog:
``On 30 December, our Station Manager in Madagascar reported that the two Philips transmitters are in working order, and have been tested using generator power. Technicians are still working on restoring the mains supply and will finish tomorrow (31 December). A temporary schedule will then be put into effect on 1 January using these two Philips transmitters.
``The other two transmitters (one 250 kW and one 50 kW) are also thought to be OK, but still have to be tested at the weekend. New switches also have to be installed to connect these two transmitters to the antenna system. We hope to bring them back on the air in the course of next week.
``Tomorrow (31 December) I will publish details of the interim schedule which has been worked out for next week using two transmitters at Madagascar. In the meantime, the temporary arrangements are still valid`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, 1920 UT Dec 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
