** CHINA. Tuning by 9605, Jan 25 at 1335 heard English ``This is CNR News``, back to Chinese, but more English bits later mixed in such as ``The sound of China evening news``. Apparently they think it`s cool to throw in English phrases. I have a hard time imagining any US domestic service throwing in Mandarin comments.
Guess what: if you check HFCC, you will not find any such China transmission, but you will find BBCWS in Mandarin via Singapore, 1300-1530. That`s because the cynical ChiCom are using CNR1 programming here as one of countless jammers against any Western objectivity getting into the country. And they have the gall to pretend to participate in HFCC, failing to register little things like this.
7585 with Firedrake jamming, Jan 25 at 1452 // weaker 8400. 7585 a new spot for it, but why? The only thing scheduled there is Vatican Radio in Tamil via Tajikistan, 1450-1510, says Aoki. At 1502 the 7585 FD was in usual hourtop open-carrier pause supposedly for monitoring, but I could hear nothing else. Resumed music modulation at 1504:40. At 1508 FD also // poorly on 9000 as well as 8400, none higher. Next check of 7585 at 1519, it`s gone, still on 8400, 9000. Meanwhile, several CNR1/jammers in the 7300-7535 range were still well audible. So was 7585 a mistake, or did Sound of Hope try to slip in there, or did Vatican switch from Tamil to a more sensitive language, bringing down the wrath of Chan, or rather SAFRT? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDIA. 1330 UT Jan 25, scheduled Republic Day eve speech by President Mrs. Pratibha Devisingh Patil: in progress in Hindi at tune-in 1335 on AIR NC 9425, and better four seconds later on AIR VBS 9870. Not on GOS English frequency 9690. At 1345 searched 60m for her, and audible on 4920 Chennai, weaker Mumbai 4840. I could tell it was the same speech tho not synchronized with 9870. Also checked 7.3-7.5 MHz area just in case, but daytime frequencies probably not in use.
Kept listening on 9870, and rewarded by abrupt switch to English at 1352 as she started the speech over, greeting military and security forces, quoting M. Gandhi, extolling harmony and secularism, respecting all religions. A wide-ranging pep talk, sort of a ``state of the union``, touching on climate change, carbon footprint; India fourth largest economy in the world, second in population, seventh in area. Ended on 9870 at 1411. I wish advance publicity had made clear she would also speak in English.
Meanwhile I had rechecked AIR GOS 9690 at 1402 and there she was in English but not matching any other frequency. Turns out this playback started about nine minutes later as it did not end until 1420, with announcer admitting that it was recorded, on the eve of the 61st Republic Day. Also audible on // 13710 vs Cuban leapfrog.
1422 with editorial criticising racially-motivated attacks on Indians in Victoria, Australia. 1426 economic review. But the speech knocked regular programming out of whack as there was no Faithfully Yours mailbag at 1430; 1437 check, music and talk about something else.
The next big broadcast for Republic Day starts at 0350 UT Jan 26, live coverage of the parade with separate frequencies for English and Hindi, usage differing from an ordinary day. But not likely to reach the other worldside from mid-day. Details:
http://alokeshgupta.blogspot.com/2010/01/special-broadcasts-by-air-for-republic.html
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. 9526-, VOI, Jan 25 around 1330 poor signal and modulation during English, het 9530. Recheck at 1416 now in the clear at S9+20, but just open carrier to 1417* (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO [and non]. 6185, just open carrier at 0618 Jan 25. XEPPM or ZYE365? Probably the former lacking modulation as it`s a bit early for RNA to be on. Yes, at 0634 RNA had come on modulated with SAH against XEPPM on the lo side (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NEW ZEALAND. 6170, RNZI, Monday Jan 25 at 1329 concluding Dateline Pacific, and starting Mailbox a minute early as usual, but after a six-week summer holiday hiatus. Usual co-channel interference from Russia, and SAH, so I`ll demand the audio sometime in the next month.
http://www.rnzi.com/audio/mailbox.mp3 plays it, and once another show is up a fortnight hence, this Jan 25 show will be demoted to http://www.rnzi.com/audio/mailbox2.mp3 for another biweek before vanishing forever.
It did start, also as usual, with a Maori song, which seems odd for a mailbag show which should have plenty of letters and DX news piled up by now. Are there not lots of other opportunities to play music on RNZI? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN. Looking for weekly Sephardic service from REE, Monday Jan 25 at 1435, but nothing audible, not even a carrier. Propagation from Europe not very good, but REE Spanish on 15585 was poorly audible. So did Emisión Sefarad finally switch to the announced frequency 15325? If so, bad news, as it`s blocked by something else, YFR due east from Wertachtal, GERMANY, in Oriya, a S Asian language. And also with heavy splatter from R. Martí/DCJC on 15330. 15385 still missing at later chex before 1455 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TURKEY. 11660, VOT IS of piano variations, Jan 25 at 1456, mixing with something else talking, producing a SAH, which could be RA and/or VOR. 1500 almost-correct timesignal but too undermodulated to make out language. Scheduled as Arabic via Çakirlar. 11815 in Turkish had its own SAH with REE/Costa Rica before 1500 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U K [non]. Since the BBCWS press release about their new Creole service was not explicit about the SW frequency for the 1410-1430 UT broadcast also on FM, and I could not find it by monitoring on the first day, Jan 23, I then enquired. Mark Deutsch, Head of Broadcast Networks, replied:
``The BBC Creole is on short wave, but not at 1410. It's at
1232:30-1252:30 on 11860 (MSY) and 9410 (HRI), borrowed from the
Spanish service to Cuba.``
Which I have not yet monitored directly (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. Follow-up to last report about WTWW`s long-hours test on Jan 23 [not July 23 as I wishfully must have thought! Please correct that if copying]: George McClintock tells me that WTWW was off the air until about 0130 UT Jan 24 as he was repairing a water leak in the cooling system, but then back on 5755 and well audible here; planned to stay on until 0400 and if all goes well may not need to test on air much afterwards this week.
Ted Randall, whose recorded IDs and requests for reports had been playing every few minutes, went live from his home studio at about 0300, responding to e-mails, shortly taking phone calls to a toll-free number 1-877-511-8890. He asked just about every caller if they were a ham operator, and just about everyone said no. I did not catch any of their names. George McClintock was also on the air by phone at 0337-0341, and again at 0430, as the transmission was extended until 0436*. Apparently no further on-air testing Jan 24 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [and non]. Lavwadlamerik, VOA Creole service, Monday Jan 25 at 1319 interviewing Dominican Republic ambassador, poor-fair on 6135 via Bonaire, better on Greenville (?) 9505. The 1230-1329 broadcast is still M-F only, and will remain so, says Andy Sennitt; altho Terry Krueger heard an open carrier during the entire period Sunday on 6135 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WRMI update: still QRP, but French to Haiti -- Glenn: We are still using the auxiliary [5 kW] transmitter, which has been working pretty well. But we aren't running 24 hours, as we have to give it breaks so it doesn't overheat. Reports are good from the south.
We did start on Thursday of this week a daily (Monday-Friday) hour in French for Haiti (and French-speaking Caribbean) 1200-1300 UT Mon-Fri. Currently we're running Radio Prague in French from 1200 to 1230, Vatican Radio newscast in French from 1230 to 1245, and UN Radio in French 1245-1300.
We're working on some religious programs in Creole for this block as well, and we're trying to get some fix-tuned radios sent to Haiti. This should be a long-term commitment for us; not just for the immediate crisis. Propagation analysis from Miami to Port au Prince at 1200 UT looks really good.
We have found some of the parts we've been needing for the transmitter and antenna. Our consulting engineer should be getting here from Panamá any day now, so in the coming days we will hopefully have the main transmitter back on air and the North American antenna back to normal (Jeff White, WRMI, Jan 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
The M-F 12-13 French/Creole? Block on 9955 bumps off two airings of WORLD OF RADIO and some other DX programs. Last we checked, the DentroCuban jamming did not ramp up until 1300. But considering the continuing jamming problem on 9955, are you sure you want to commit to fix-tuned radios??
Heavy jamming on 9955 as usual from 1330 past 1500 Jan 25, abating a bit to pulsing rather than noise wall at 1513 check when I could detect some music underneath, unknowable whether it was WRMI with Prague relay or YFR Taiwan in Russian, but suspect the latter (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [and non]. 11675, Jan 25 at 1500 AWR sign-on in English, Nepalese to follow. Aoki says via Wertachtal, GERMANY, and followed by English at 1530. I hope the next Nepali census determines just how many Seventh-Day Adventists there are, as I find it hard to imagine how one could retain any traditional culture once becoming an SDA. World Almanac 2002 calculated Nepal is 90% Hindu, 5% Buddhist, 3% Moslem, leaving 2% for everything else, but of course other Christian sects are also doing their damnedest to make inroads.
AWR also working on the Turx, Jan 25 at 1511 on 11780 via AUSTRIA, and just as good a signal if not better than Anguilla 11775. At 1515 one hymn had some English lyrix, including ``blood, crimson red,`` oooh; 1516 YL announcement in Turkish. More music until 1529* (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
Guess what: if you check HFCC, you will not find any such China transmission, but you will find BBCWS in Mandarin via Singapore, 1300-1530. That`s because the cynical ChiCom are using CNR1 programming here as one of countless jammers against any Western objectivity getting into the country. And they have the gall to pretend to participate in HFCC, failing to register little things like this.
7585 with Firedrake jamming, Jan 25 at 1452 // weaker 8400. 7585 a new spot for it, but why? The only thing scheduled there is Vatican Radio in Tamil via Tajikistan, 1450-1510, says Aoki. At 1502 the 7585 FD was in usual hourtop open-carrier pause supposedly for monitoring, but I could hear nothing else. Resumed music modulation at 1504:40. At 1508 FD also // poorly on 9000 as well as 8400, none higher. Next check of 7585 at 1519, it`s gone, still on 8400, 9000. Meanwhile, several CNR1/jammers in the 7300-7535 range were still well audible. So was 7585 a mistake, or did Sound of Hope try to slip in there, or did Vatican switch from Tamil to a more sensitive language, bringing down the wrath of Chan, or rather SAFRT? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDIA. 1330 UT Jan 25, scheduled Republic Day eve speech by President Mrs. Pratibha Devisingh Patil: in progress in Hindi at tune-in 1335 on AIR NC 9425, and better four seconds later on AIR VBS 9870. Not on GOS English frequency 9690. At 1345 searched 60m for her, and audible on 4920 Chennai, weaker Mumbai 4840. I could tell it was the same speech tho not synchronized with 9870. Also checked 7.3-7.5 MHz area just in case, but daytime frequencies probably not in use.
Kept listening on 9870, and rewarded by abrupt switch to English at 1352 as she started the speech over, greeting military and security forces, quoting M. Gandhi, extolling harmony and secularism, respecting all religions. A wide-ranging pep talk, sort of a ``state of the union``, touching on climate change, carbon footprint; India fourth largest economy in the world, second in population, seventh in area. Ended on 9870 at 1411. I wish advance publicity had made clear she would also speak in English.
Meanwhile I had rechecked AIR GOS 9690 at 1402 and there she was in English but not matching any other frequency. Turns out this playback started about nine minutes later as it did not end until 1420, with announcer admitting that it was recorded, on the eve of the 61st Republic Day. Also audible on // 13710 vs Cuban leapfrog.
1422 with editorial criticising racially-motivated attacks on Indians in Victoria, Australia. 1426 economic review. But the speech knocked regular programming out of whack as there was no Faithfully Yours mailbag at 1430; 1437 check, music and talk about something else.
The next big broadcast for Republic Day starts at 0350 UT Jan 26, live coverage of the parade with separate frequencies for English and Hindi, usage differing from an ordinary day. But not likely to reach the other worldside from mid-day. Details:
http://alokeshgupta.blogspot.com/2010/01/special-broadcasts-by-air-for-republic.html
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. 9526-, VOI, Jan 25 around 1330 poor signal and modulation during English, het 9530. Recheck at 1416 now in the clear at S9+20, but just open carrier to 1417* (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO [and non]. 6185, just open carrier at 0618 Jan 25. XEPPM or ZYE365? Probably the former lacking modulation as it`s a bit early for RNA to be on. Yes, at 0634 RNA had come on modulated with SAH against XEPPM on the lo side (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NEW ZEALAND. 6170, RNZI, Monday Jan 25 at 1329 concluding Dateline Pacific, and starting Mailbox a minute early as usual, but after a six-week summer holiday hiatus. Usual co-channel interference from Russia, and SAH, so I`ll demand the audio sometime in the next month.
http://www.rnzi.com/audio/mailbox.mp3 plays it, and once another show is up a fortnight hence, this Jan 25 show will be demoted to http://www.rnzi.com/audio/mailbox2.mp3 for another biweek before vanishing forever.
It did start, also as usual, with a Maori song, which seems odd for a mailbag show which should have plenty of letters and DX news piled up by now. Are there not lots of other opportunities to play music on RNZI? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN. Looking for weekly Sephardic service from REE, Monday Jan 25 at 1435, but nothing audible, not even a carrier. Propagation from Europe not very good, but REE Spanish on 15585 was poorly audible. So did Emisión Sefarad finally switch to the announced frequency 15325? If so, bad news, as it`s blocked by something else, YFR due east from Wertachtal, GERMANY, in Oriya, a S Asian language. And also with heavy splatter from R. Martí/DCJC on 15330. 15385 still missing at later chex before 1455 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TURKEY. 11660, VOT IS of piano variations, Jan 25 at 1456, mixing with something else talking, producing a SAH, which could be RA and/or VOR. 1500 almost-correct timesignal but too undermodulated to make out language. Scheduled as Arabic via Çakirlar. 11815 in Turkish had its own SAH with REE/Costa Rica before 1500 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U K [non]. Since the BBCWS press release about their new Creole service was not explicit about the SW frequency for the 1410-1430 UT broadcast also on FM, and I could not find it by monitoring on the first day, Jan 23, I then enquired. Mark Deutsch, Head of Broadcast Networks, replied:
``The BBC Creole is on short wave, but not at 1410. It's at
1232:30-1252:30 on 11860 (MSY) and 9410 (HRI), borrowed from the
Spanish service to Cuba.``
Which I have not yet monitored directly (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. Follow-up to last report about WTWW`s long-hours test on Jan 23 [not July 23 as I wishfully must have thought! Please correct that if copying]: George McClintock tells me that WTWW was off the air until about 0130 UT Jan 24 as he was repairing a water leak in the cooling system, but then back on 5755 and well audible here; planned to stay on until 0400 and if all goes well may not need to test on air much afterwards this week.
Ted Randall, whose recorded IDs and requests for reports had been playing every few minutes, went live from his home studio at about 0300, responding to e-mails, shortly taking phone calls to a toll-free number 1-877-511-8890. He asked just about every caller if they were a ham operator, and just about everyone said no. I did not catch any of their names. George McClintock was also on the air by phone at 0337-0341, and again at 0430, as the transmission was extended until 0436*. Apparently no further on-air testing Jan 24 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [and non]. Lavwadlamerik, VOA Creole service, Monday Jan 25 at 1319 interviewing Dominican Republic ambassador, poor-fair on 6135 via Bonaire, better on Greenville (?) 9505. The 1230-1329 broadcast is still M-F only, and will remain so, says Andy Sennitt; altho Terry Krueger heard an open carrier during the entire period Sunday on 6135 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WRMI update: still QRP, but French to Haiti -- Glenn: We are still using the auxiliary [5 kW] transmitter, which has been working pretty well. But we aren't running 24 hours, as we have to give it breaks so it doesn't overheat. Reports are good from the south.
We did start on Thursday of this week a daily (Monday-Friday) hour in French for Haiti (and French-speaking Caribbean) 1200-1300 UT Mon-Fri. Currently we're running Radio Prague in French from 1200 to 1230, Vatican Radio newscast in French from 1230 to 1245, and UN Radio in French 1245-1300.
We're working on some religious programs in Creole for this block as well, and we're trying to get some fix-tuned radios sent to Haiti. This should be a long-term commitment for us; not just for the immediate crisis. Propagation analysis from Miami to Port au Prince at 1200 UT looks really good.
We have found some of the parts we've been needing for the transmitter and antenna. Our consulting engineer should be getting here from Panamá any day now, so in the coming days we will hopefully have the main transmitter back on air and the North American antenna back to normal (Jeff White, WRMI, Jan 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
The M-F 12-13 French/Creole? Block on 9955 bumps off two airings of WORLD OF RADIO and some other DX programs. Last we checked, the DentroCuban jamming did not ramp up until 1300. But considering the continuing jamming problem on 9955, are you sure you want to commit to fix-tuned radios??
Heavy jamming on 9955 as usual from 1330 past 1500 Jan 25, abating a bit to pulsing rather than noise wall at 1513 check when I could detect some music underneath, unknowable whether it was WRMI with Prague relay or YFR Taiwan in Russian, but suspect the latter (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [and non]. 11675, Jan 25 at 1500 AWR sign-on in English, Nepalese to follow. Aoki says via Wertachtal, GERMANY, and followed by English at 1530. I hope the next Nepali census determines just how many Seventh-Day Adventists there are, as I find it hard to imagine how one could retain any traditional culture once becoming an SDA. World Almanac 2002 calculated Nepal is 90% Hindu, 5% Buddhist, 3% Moslem, leaving 2% for everything else, but of course other Christian sects are also doing their damnedest to make inroads.
AWR also working on the Turx, Jan 25 at 1511 on 11780 via AUSTRIA, and just as good a signal if not better than Anguilla 11775. At 1515 one hymn had some English lyrix, including ``blood, crimson red,`` oooh; 1516 YL announcement in Turkish. More music until 1529* (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
