venerdì 22 gennaio 2010

Glenn Hauser logs January 21-22, 2010

** BRAZIL. 11780 RNA already on the air with music at 0632 Jan 22 as I tuned by, but when I passed the frequency again at 0640 it was missing. Then checked // 6185 and that was on atop XEPPM. If one of the transmitters broke down, I wish it had been the other (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHINA. Firedrake Jan 22 at 1448: poor on 8400, not audible on 9000 or 10210 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CYPRUS. 5875, BBC Arabic still audible somewhat under BBC English via Thailand, Jan 22 at 1433 as the latter was starting Politix UK show. Path from Cyprus must be long-path, which makes it somewhat notable. If it were short-path there would be lots of closer Europeans audible on 6 MHz band, which is not the case at this hour (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** GREECE. 9420, VOG on the air again as heard Greek, tuning past around 1450 Jan 22. Reports from Erik Køie and Wolfgang Büschel earlier in the day confirm three transmitters are once again funxional (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SUDAN [non]. 17745, Sudan Radio Service ID in English mentioned several times during otherwise Arabic dialect, Jan 22 at 1511, in voice-over translation of someone in English, I think at the moment. No imposed reverb/echo on the modulation this time, which helps a lot. 1517 gave address in Nairobi, Kenya, but this is really transmitted from PORTUGAL (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 11565, WYFR at 1454 Jan 22, lite reverb again upon Camping the doomsayer, but no reverb when the program outro announcer started speaking, as it was Family Bible Study #192 for current date (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 15610, WEWN English at 1508 Jan 22, discussion of ``pro-life`` with heavy long-path echo from 39 megameters away (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. MW report, with apologies to any SWBC-only readers who may stop reading immediately or skip to UNIDENTIFIED.

Some people have been wondering about my getting WNAX-570 South Dakota in the daytime here in Enid OK. Is it skywave, especially in midwinter? NO. I get it all the time, month-in and month-out, QRN level permitting. It is always under much stronger KLIF Dallas, and not really listenable, and with a slow SAH.

Last time I was in OKC at midday, Jan 15, I checked on the caradio, and WNAX was still audible there, despite stronger signal from KLIF than in Enid, of course. Approximate distance Yankton-OKC is only 400 miles, not as far as you might think, since there is nowhere closer in SD than Yankton in the SE tip, and the path is across our high-ground-conductivity Great Plains.

I would love to try for further KFYR-550 Bismarck ND, which also has a tremendous coverage area; if only KFRM in Kansas would go away (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UT Logs afternoon of Jan 21 on caradio as I was driving around or parked at various Enid spots:

1540 at 2042, ``ESPN Deportes Radio, 15-40 AM`` IDs more than once, with the ``ESPN`` letters pronounced as in English, no doubt mandated by management. Promo for station ad sales with 214 AC soon gave away the source. Fortunately The Dallas Metroplex has three overlain area codes so they have to give 10-digit phonumbers.

This was atop the channel, probably KXEL skywave underneath. Amid SS, inserted a Selective Service System PSA in English, seemed aimed at guest aliens about the need to register. Never heard call-letter ID, but NRC AM Log 2009-2010 shows it as KZMP, COL University Park, 32 kW in daytime, U4 antenna.

FCC AM Query shows a neat 3-lobe pattern, with peaks at 90, 190 and 285 degrees; nulls at 145, 230 and 355 (rounded off, measured only every 5 degrees). We are somewhere around 345-350 degrees, so suspect the pattern was out of whack to be putting such a dominant signal in here, and certainly skywave, not groundwave.

See
http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/amq?list=0&facid=63551

Even stranger, FCC lists night power as 0.0 kW, yet includes all the antenna parameters, a similar but different pattern with 5 lobes, the major one due east. But on the pattern plot, power shows as 750 watts night, matching NRC AM Log info.

Meanwhile, Metroplex Spanish on 1440 was inbooming, in fact far stronger than OKC`s 1460 KZUE groundwave. No wonder, as KTNO is now 50 kW in daytime on what was once a 10-kW regional channel.

I wonder how 1540`s KZMP calls possibly correlate with a Spanish slogan, or with ESPN. Or are they just random? ``Zumbido más potente``? But there is no hum, hmmm.

Also wonder how the network ESPN could come up with a Spanish or English slogan to match the letters, which long ago became a meaningless corporate initialism, rather than Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, as was the original cable TV channel (I think). How about

``Extremely Silly Passion Network``
``Estúpidos Son Para Nosotros``
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

1060, Jan 21 at 2054 UT, financial talk about derivatives, ``Off the Wall Street Radio Network`` --- not sure if that was a joke? No, googled this about Phil`s Gang Radio Show, and the time matches 20-21 UT:
http://chataboutit.com/about/phils-gang-radio-show/
Apparently that ``network`` applies only to this one show, like EIB.

But whence on 1060? Retuned after hourtop at 2105, ad mentioned ``here in Boulder``, then ``AM 1060 and 1580, Business Radio`` in Colorado. So it`s KRCN, COL Longmont, 50 kW in daytime. 1580 refers to KKKK Colorado Springs; NRC AM Log shows them both as ``The Big Money Station``, not a slogan I heard. 1060 was so steady for so long that I was wondering if I had a new semi-close station by groundwave, normally vacant in daytime, but no, this was skywave (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

1220, South Asian music dominating the channel, Jan 21 at 2124, in fact classical sitar music, nice! 2130 switched to vocal S Asian music. Only problem a bit of splash from semi-local WBBZ 1230 Ponca City OK.

Lots of music, lacking ads or other announcements, even at drivetime! Should also make it a good companion if it streams. Finally at 2139 gave phone number 972-243-8411, i.e. Dallas. 2200 kept playing music past hourtop, a song with instrumental accompaniment including bagpipes. 2204 dead air as I had to tune away, but still there at 2225 check.

Uplooked later in NRC AM Log, this is KZEE, COL Weatherford TX, Asian ethnic as ``Hot Pepper 1220`` and ``South Asian Radio`` with only 1.6 kW day power, so doing a good job here on afternoon skywave. Is Midwest City OK KTLV still on? Rarely audible here and no problem for KZEE`s Enid listener.

Yes, it does stream, autolaunching from
http://www.radiohotpepper.com/ And is there a program/language schedule? Of course not! But there is quite a gallery of hosts, most of them not accompanied by specific time slots. Refers to format as ``Indi-Tex``, and shows radio-locator map from site W of Ft Worth so skews eastward, but not nulled usward.

The Metroplex sure has a lot of Asian stations of various ilx, as well as Spanish ones all over the AM dial (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

1190, Jan 21 at 2148 UT, promo for a silly ballgame in Lubbock, but then ID as ``CNN 1190`` so has to be KFXR Dallas, which has a minor lobe almost due north, besides the major lobes to the WSW and ESE from site W of Dallas. That`s the original KLIF facility (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

1210, Jan 21 at 2152, heard ID in English as ``ESPN Radio``, apparently atop KGYN. Only thing that fits per NRC AM Log listings is WSKR, COL Denham Springs LA, near Bâton Rouge with 10 kW, tho there`s another ESPN in SW Utah, a bit too early for that (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 15140, open carrier Jan 22 at 1510 atop weak Arabic; the latter no doubt Oman, and the carrier helped to audiblize it, muscling aside much stronger WYFR Spanish from 15130, but not completely. The carrier had some fading, so maybe from further than Greenville, but whence? Nothing likely scheduled now or later on 15140 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###