** BIAFRA [non]. Had not checked former VOBI transmission for a few weeks, which was Fri 19-20 on WHRI 15665, but just in case did so Jan 15: nothing heard, tho at 1930 I happened to be in a rather noisy parking lot with a portable. Website http://www.biafraland.com/vobi.htm still shows no broadcasts since Dec 11 as far as audio files (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. RHC UT Jan 16 at 0713 had English still running not only on usual 6060, but also still on 6010 and much weaker 6140; while Spanish was on 6120 and 6150. As frequently noted, 6140 is sometimes in Spanish, sometimes in English.
11760, RHC missing at 1454 Jan 16 while 11730 and 11800 continued. 11760 probably was in processing of switching transmitter/antenna, as it was back on by 1500 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KOREA NORTH [non]. 5910, Shiokaze via JSR Japan, Jan 16 at 1426 in Korean, fast SAH again from co-channel station about to start at 1430. The latter just too weak to tell if similar to or // Iran on 9575 Russian or 9585 Hindi, but 5875 is listed as VIRI Bengali. Occasional CW QRM such as at 1440 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** LAOS [non]. Hmong Lao Radio missing again this weekend, Jan 16 at 1415 check of WHRI 11785 --- not on the air. However open carrier was up at 1455, prior to Hmong World Christian Radio at 1500 Saturdays only. Website http://www.h-lr.com/ still has no audio files since Jan 2 and 3 but continues to mention 11785 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. 730, dominating the channel for a few minutes from 0445 UT Jan 16 on the nondirexional caradio, not XEX, the onetime clear-channel leader, but instead Radio Viva-something, serving Chihuahua and Durango, which fits since it`s XEHB at Hidalgo del Parral, Chihuahua, right on the Durango border. Despite many repetitions of the ID, it was hard to tell what the second word was.
WRTH 2010 shows XEHB on 730 as Radio Viva Vida, 50 kW day and 1 kW night, so suspect it may be on day power.
Uplooked later in the new ``Quick & Easy`` MWList, http://www.mwlist.org/mwlist_quick_and_easy.php?area=3#kHz730
it`s not there! They still have XEHB under its previous identity on 770 whence it moved and where we first heard it long ago.
Then checking another source, Fred Cantú`s Mexico Radio site:
http://mexicoradiotv.com/listchih.htm
We get a different name, Radio Viva Villa! I`ll bet his version is correct since there is a graphic of the logo, very small which needs to be blown up; unfortunately no hotlink to a website.
That name presumably means ``long live Pancho Villa``, a local hero. I wonder what the new IRCA Mexican log shows? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. 6104.8, XEQM made another appearance Jan 16 at 0713, modulation somewhat distorted with frantic music for the nightmiddle, good on peaks but fades down to nothing, including at 0716 when an announcement was starting. By 0725 had apparently decided to stay outfaded (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TUNISIA. RTT, still on 7335 at 0800 Jan 16 with Arabic news, after nice selexion of Arabic music until then. Official sked shows 7335 on until 0910, but since it also shows // 7275 until 0730, but really closes at 0627, does 7335 also go off earlier than scheduled? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TURKEY. 41 and 31m mostly dead except for some African relays, 0609 Jan 15, but on 9700 Turkish music with YL ululating and string instrument had fair signal, 0610 announcement. This is VOT Turkish, Emirler site at 310 degrees to Europe but also USward at 05-07.
12035, usual somewhat distorted modulation from VOT, Jan 15 at 1422 with multi-lingual ID time-filler, then sign-off announcement in English, 1424 IS which kept running instead of turning off transmitter to QSY; 1427 as usual starts inserting IDs in language to follow, amid IS variations, still not sure what it is, but it is definitely not Russian, one of the 1430 languages on the schedule, as it went ``Turkiye ---- Radio``, which points to one of the many Turkic languages. 1430 6-pip timesignal ending 1 second late compared to WWV, opening program mentioning website partially www.trt. Kept running until abruptly cut off at 1433:35 when the operator woke up and starting moving to the frequency where this is supposed to be, as previously discussed, most likely Kazakh on 9785. The Slavic influence I previous heard would be apropos (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U K [non]. 5875, BBCWS still QRMing itself as first noted Jan 14. On Jan 16 at 1425, English and Arabic mixing with Arabic somewhat stronger. English is via Thailand, which used to be clear on this frequency. There is some fading, but hard to tell if propagational or subaudible heterodyning from slightly different frequencies. By 1459 both signals much weaker, but could make out BBCWS sounder, ID in English and timesignal. Where is the Arabic coming from and why has BBCWS decided to collide with itself? Do not find the latter listed anywhere (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 5755, WTWW testing again UT Jan 15 around 0142 and 0147 with same ID and probably same music loop as before. Carrier and modulation off and on several times as needed: 0213 off, 0218 OC, 0219 not
audible.
George McClintock tells me that altho problems are being worked out, a lot more full-power testing is needed, especially on 9480 which would be on the air Friday afternoon. Does not plan to finalize programming until after HFCC, which is Feb 1-5 in Kuala Lumpur. He`s also too busy now to verify reception reports but will eventually have a QSL card; there is no contact info on the website http://wtww.us (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 9955, Jan 16 at 1533, no jamming, weak signal with lo modulation, and fast SAH, presumably WRMI, which Jeff White tells me is temporarily on the 5 kW backup transmitter, but not running full hours. Sounds like preacher which fits for Zion Teacher scheduled; the other being YFR via Tainan, Taiwan in Russian (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 11845, fast pulsing until 1529* Jan 16, covering only 11840-11850. Maybe OTH radar. No broadcaster on 11845 to be victimized; and doubt it was residual Cuban jamming, since R. Martí has been off 11845 since the end of A-09, which should be long enough for the DCJC to realize they can let up too (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. Finally a bit of winter sporadic E reaching channel 2 analog: 2317 UT Jan 14, commercial slides reading INFORMATION and then DIRECT BUY, therefore English and in all probability Canadian. 2323 another brief fadein, looks like a cooking demonstration, maybe Rachel Ray show. Checked online skeds and does not match for Thunder Bay or Regina, two of our most likely skippers (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
** CUBA. RHC UT Jan 16 at 0713 had English still running not only on usual 6060, but also still on 6010 and much weaker 6140; while Spanish was on 6120 and 6150. As frequently noted, 6140 is sometimes in Spanish, sometimes in English.
11760, RHC missing at 1454 Jan 16 while 11730 and 11800 continued. 11760 probably was in processing of switching transmitter/antenna, as it was back on by 1500 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KOREA NORTH [non]. 5910, Shiokaze via JSR Japan, Jan 16 at 1426 in Korean, fast SAH again from co-channel station about to start at 1430. The latter just too weak to tell if similar to or // Iran on 9575 Russian or 9585 Hindi, but 5875 is listed as VIRI Bengali. Occasional CW QRM such as at 1440 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** LAOS [non]. Hmong Lao Radio missing again this weekend, Jan 16 at 1415 check of WHRI 11785 --- not on the air. However open carrier was up at 1455, prior to Hmong World Christian Radio at 1500 Saturdays only. Website http://www.h-lr.com/ still has no audio files since Jan 2 and 3 but continues to mention 11785 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. 730, dominating the channel for a few minutes from 0445 UT Jan 16 on the nondirexional caradio, not XEX, the onetime clear-channel leader, but instead Radio Viva-something, serving Chihuahua and Durango, which fits since it`s XEHB at Hidalgo del Parral, Chihuahua, right on the Durango border. Despite many repetitions of the ID, it was hard to tell what the second word was.
WRTH 2010 shows XEHB on 730 as Radio Viva Vida, 50 kW day and 1 kW night, so suspect it may be on day power.
Uplooked later in the new ``Quick & Easy`` MWList, http://www.mwlist.org/mwlist_quick_and_easy.php?area=3#kHz730
it`s not there! They still have XEHB under its previous identity on 770 whence it moved and where we first heard it long ago.
Then checking another source, Fred Cantú`s Mexico Radio site:
http://mexicoradiotv.com/listchih.htm
We get a different name, Radio Viva Villa! I`ll bet his version is correct since there is a graphic of the logo, very small which needs to be blown up; unfortunately no hotlink to a website.
That name presumably means ``long live Pancho Villa``, a local hero. I wonder what the new IRCA Mexican log shows? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. 6104.8, XEQM made another appearance Jan 16 at 0713, modulation somewhat distorted with frantic music for the nightmiddle, good on peaks but fades down to nothing, including at 0716 when an announcement was starting. By 0725 had apparently decided to stay outfaded (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TUNISIA. RTT, still on 7335 at 0800 Jan 16 with Arabic news, after nice selexion of Arabic music until then. Official sked shows 7335 on until 0910, but since it also shows // 7275 until 0730, but really closes at 0627, does 7335 also go off earlier than scheduled? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TURKEY. 41 and 31m mostly dead except for some African relays, 0609 Jan 15, but on 9700 Turkish music with YL ululating and string instrument had fair signal, 0610 announcement. This is VOT Turkish, Emirler site at 310 degrees to Europe but also USward at 05-07.
12035, usual somewhat distorted modulation from VOT, Jan 15 at 1422 with multi-lingual ID time-filler, then sign-off announcement in English, 1424 IS which kept running instead of turning off transmitter to QSY; 1427 as usual starts inserting IDs in language to follow, amid IS variations, still not sure what it is, but it is definitely not Russian, one of the 1430 languages on the schedule, as it went ``Turkiye ---- Radio``, which points to one of the many Turkic languages. 1430 6-pip timesignal ending 1 second late compared to WWV, opening program mentioning website partially www.trt. Kept running until abruptly cut off at 1433:35 when the operator woke up and starting moving to the frequency where this is supposed to be, as previously discussed, most likely Kazakh on 9785. The Slavic influence I previous heard would be apropos (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U K [non]. 5875, BBCWS still QRMing itself as first noted Jan 14. On Jan 16 at 1425, English and Arabic mixing with Arabic somewhat stronger. English is via Thailand, which used to be clear on this frequency. There is some fading, but hard to tell if propagational or subaudible heterodyning from slightly different frequencies. By 1459 both signals much weaker, but could make out BBCWS sounder, ID in English and timesignal. Where is the Arabic coming from and why has BBCWS decided to collide with itself? Do not find the latter listed anywhere (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 5755, WTWW testing again UT Jan 15 around 0142 and 0147 with same ID and probably same music loop as before. Carrier and modulation off and on several times as needed: 0213 off, 0218 OC, 0219 not
audible.
George McClintock tells me that altho problems are being worked out, a lot more full-power testing is needed, especially on 9480 which would be on the air Friday afternoon. Does not plan to finalize programming until after HFCC, which is Feb 1-5 in Kuala Lumpur. He`s also too busy now to verify reception reports but will eventually have a QSL card; there is no contact info on the website http://wtww.us (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 9955, Jan 16 at 1533, no jamming, weak signal with lo modulation, and fast SAH, presumably WRMI, which Jeff White tells me is temporarily on the 5 kW backup transmitter, but not running full hours. Sounds like preacher which fits for Zion Teacher scheduled; the other being YFR via Tainan, Taiwan in Russian (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 11845, fast pulsing until 1529* Jan 16, covering only 11840-11850. Maybe OTH radar. No broadcaster on 11845 to be victimized; and doubt it was residual Cuban jamming, since R. Martí has been off 11845 since the end of A-09, which should be long enough for the DCJC to realize they can let up too (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. Finally a bit of winter sporadic E reaching channel 2 analog: 2317 UT Jan 14, commercial slides reading INFORMATION and then DIRECT BUY, therefore English and in all probability Canadian. 2323 another brief fadein, looks like a cooking demonstration, maybe Rachel Ray show. Checked online skeds and does not match for Thunder Bay or Regina, two of our most likely skippers (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
