** ALBANIA. 13640, R. Tirana, VG S9+12 signal for English to NAm at 1530 Jan 30: going from talk to music segment at 1543, and no problem from doomed Darwin transmission of CVC whose carrier was barely detectable on 13635; see AUSTRALIA. 1553 the music outro sounded like ``Dance with Me``, then another folk song with ululations, 1557 outro that as ``Folk edition musical program``, closing theme to 1558, IS until 1600 and open carrier until 1601*. Altho modulation level was good, modulation quality was as usual deficient, especially during the music (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** AUSTRALIA. I posted this early UT Jan 30 to the dxldyg whose members always get first shot at our perishable information:
The Cox Peninsula ``Darwin`` transmitter site is closing down as of January 31, and to be dismantled. CVC has not told us exactly when the last transmission will go on air, or whether any of the existing transmissions of its own or relays of R. Australia, and JCI (Japanese clandestines to North Korea) will have stopped earlier, but based mostly on Aoki, here is the full schedule we have been able to put together for all Darwin transmissions, in station, language, and then time order:
9585, 2200-2300 340 CVC Chinese
15170, 2300-0200 340 CVC Chinese
17690, 0400-0600 340 CVC Chinese
17635, 0600-1200 340 CVC Chinese
13685, 1200-1800 340 CVC Chinese
15535, 0930-1230 303 CVC English
13635, 1230-1830 303 CVC English
15250, 2300-0200 290 CVC Indonesian
17820, 0400-1000 290 CVC Indonesian
9890, 1000-1300 290 CVC Indonesian
11925, 1300-1700 290 CVC Indonesian
-----------------------------------
11825, 1300-1430 340 RA Chinese
12010, 2200-2400 317 RA English [except Burmese 2300-2330]
17665, 0000-0200 317 RA English [except Burmese 0100-0130]
11980, 1600-1700 317 RA English
9630, 2200-2330 290 RA Indonesian
15180, 0000-0030 290 RA Indonesian
0400-0430 290 RA Indonesian
0500-0530 290 RA Indonesian
-----------------------------------
9880, 1430-1530 3 JCI Japanese - Furusato no Kaze, alt 11995
9690, 1500-1530 3 JCI Korean - Nippon no Kaze, alt 11650
-----------------------------------
17755, 0700-0800 317 TDP English DRM 17750-17760
This should be useful in monitoring which transmissions are still going or end as of UT January 30, 31, or even February 1; and attempting to get a historically-dated QSL
Altho WRTH says Darwin has 2 x 100 kW, 3 x 250 kW, and 1 x 300 kW transmitters, all these are listed as 250, except for a semi-250 for DRM.
As in DXLD 10-04, RA has already added Palau frequencies for some of its Darwin transmissions, presumably using both sites temporarily in transition. This schedule accounts for maximum of four transmitters, so perhaps the `300` is the fourth unit being run at 250 instead (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Then Kai Ludwig replied that the transmitter power info in WRTH and Aoki, HFCC? is all wrong:
``The situation is such that two of the three 250 kW Collins transmitters from 1968 (the only other site still using such equipment is Sackville) have been disconnected and replaced by two Continental 100 kW transmitters, brought in from somewhere else (does anybody know the details?). But it seems that these transmitters are mere stand-by units and never in regular use.
``The third old Collins is still operational but has to be tuned manually now, requiring 15 minutes for a frequency change. This transmitter covers the peak requirements when four frequencies are on air simultaneously.
``Otherwise the site has the Thomson transmitter originally installed in 1984 at Carnarvon, the provisional site that remained in use for two decades. After its final closure in 1996 the transmitter was moved to Darwin. Two further Thomson units were purchased and installed at the Darwin site in 1994. These three 300 kW Thomson transmitters are the core of the operations nowadays.
``So far only the lease of the station grounds to Christian Vision has been discussed, but which arrangements have been made in regard to the equipment? The antenna system must have cost millions, and the transmitters certainly also still represented a considerable value in 2000, when two of them were just six years old.
``Has all this equipment just been given away by the Australian authorities (the broadcasting distribution service, nowadays Broadcast Australia, was not privatized yet at this point), have they sold it to Christian Vision for a reasonable price, or is it not the property of Christian Vision at all and instead used under some other kind of arrangement?`` [end quotation of Kai Ludwig`s comments to the dxldyg]
Not surprisingly, none of the listed Darwin frequencies were audible around 0600 Jan 30, altho in other yearparts, 17820 has made it here in the nightmiddle.
I resumed trying to hear Cox Peninsula at 1541 UT Jan 30, when it is already Jan 31 in the NT, so quite possibly the last day on the air. Propagation was certainly not favorable, but I could detect carriers on 13635 and 13685 from CVC, vs. extremely stronger signals on adjacent frequencies such as Albania [q.v.] 13640, Farda 13680.
Initially 13685 could be made out with a bit of modulation which sounded like English, but later Chinese. Perhaps language lesson. Or maybe not CVC: while the only station in the world ever using 13635 has been CVC Australia, on 13685, CRI via Mali is also scheduled at 13-16 in French, English and English.
After Tirana closed at 1601* I could still detect only a carrier on 13635, likewise 13685, so CVC apparently still on.
Meanwhile, Radio Australia was scheduled to start 11980 via Darwin at 1600, and this has been audible recently. From a few minutes before, only that blasted rapid clicking centered on 11982 was audible, and likewise after 1600, so Radio Australia seems to be gone already.
See above schedule for resumption at 2200 or 2300 of several Darwin frequencies, if they still exist one more day (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake music jamming, Jan 30 at 1532: good but fluttery on 8400; poor on 10210; just a het on 9000 and nothing on 7585 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. RRI doing well on 75 and 60 meters Jan 29: 3995 at 1342 with music whenever the SSB-senders would pause, i.e. Kendari.
4750, Makassar, best in quite a while at 1345 with semi-classical piano music, talkovers, still at 1413 when singing and violin had been added. SSOB except for 5025 Cuba at the outset.
9526-, VOI Jakarta, unusually on the air at 1534, since CRI East Turkistan 9525 had a het on it; CRI English dominated, but VOI probably also in English (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SAIPAN. IBB transmitter on 9725 is upacting again, Jan 30 at 1537 with Vietnamese from VOA, putting hash up to 9735 but apparently not to the low side. It could have been far worse as in previous logs, but needs tweaking now to prevent further deterioration (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SAUDI ARABIA. Buzzing Service of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, bad as it was Jan 29, got even worse Jan 30 at 1522 check. Now the horrible buzz from 15435 transmitter even QRMs its own // Qur`an service on 15225, as the full brunt covers roughly 15205-15500, with 4-per-minute pulsing edges reaching down to 15115 and up to 15940! At first the upper boundary between brunt and pulses was around 15500, but by 1526 it shifted up to 15840.
The only signal in this entire range which was strong enough to overcome it was Portugal on 15560; all other stations suffering harmful interference which is totally unnecessary, but will a single one of them complain? How about at HFCC A-10 imminent in Kuala Lumpur? If any Saudi reps are there, they should get an earful, e.g. from Dr Jerry Plummer representing WWCR and all private US stations.
Will a single one of victims` would-be listeners complain? How many of them would figure it`s a local noise problem rather than callously transmitted from Riyadh? Those who believe in the Qur`an might consider boycotting Sa`udi Arabia in any way possible including suspending their Hajj.
Wolfgang Büschel in Germany was also monitoring this and reported at 1601 Jan 30, neatly/nearly matching our obs: ``Top record, BSKSA Riyadh on 15435 kHz heavy BUZZ signal super wide in 15108 to 15938 kHz range. Scheduled 15-18 UT.`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SOUTH AFRICA. 17860, pleased to hear a bit of Bokmakirie birdchirping surviving from the old Radio RSA days, Jan 30 at 1459 as Channel Africa was about to open Swahili service with IDs also in English. Don`t often hear this transmission which is not aimed USward, of course, but 19 degrees from Meyerton (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SRI LANKA. 9650, Jan 30 at 1536, immediately identifiable tnx to DW riff, and S Asian language, flutter. I bet this is via Trincomalee. Yes, Aoki shows Bengali at 345 degrees, while before 1530 it`s Hindi at 15 degrees. Now, why wouldn`t they aim Bengali toward Bengal, instead of further west than Hindi?? Probably they do not, as HFCC shows them both at 15 degrees (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. Lavwadalmerik, checking the 0200 UT transition between overt and covert broadcasts to Haiti: Jan 30 at 0159:30, 5960 started playing ``Yellow Bird`` and it was shortly overlain by NHK IS via Canada starting Japanese trihour as Greenville went off. After 0200, LVA continued on 7465, but not heard on 7590 which was previously back on // until 0300. Unfortunately, I did not get around to checking for it later in the hour in case it was just late upcoming (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 4050, looking again for the KWMO third harmonic from Washington, MO, Jan 30 at 0606, traces of country music, a bit better at 0614 with YL DJ talking about who would sing the NA at the Superbowl. Just barely audible tho S-meter displayed S9; trouble is, the noise level on a clear frequency was S8. 0621 more country music peaking.
This matches the format when I heard them some weeks ago with a definite ID, but none this time. As for ``The Mouth`` slogan I mentioned yesterday, that has not been heard but listed in the NRC AM Log 2009-2010, when they had a talk format, probably outdated now.
Day power is 500 watts, night power 84 watts on fundamental 1350. Compared to inbooming AM hams on 80 meters as far away as New England, who could not be running more than 1000 watts, I could now believe the extremely weak KWMO signal on 4050 is really just a fraxion of the night power, not necessarily the day power (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
** AUSTRALIA. I posted this early UT Jan 30 to the dxldyg whose members always get first shot at our perishable information:
The Cox Peninsula ``Darwin`` transmitter site is closing down as of January 31, and to be dismantled. CVC has not told us exactly when the last transmission will go on air, or whether any of the existing transmissions of its own or relays of R. Australia, and JCI (Japanese clandestines to North Korea) will have stopped earlier, but based mostly on Aoki, here is the full schedule we have been able to put together for all Darwin transmissions, in station, language, and then time order:
9585, 2200-2300 340 CVC Chinese
15170, 2300-0200 340 CVC Chinese
17690, 0400-0600 340 CVC Chinese
17635, 0600-1200 340 CVC Chinese
13685, 1200-1800 340 CVC Chinese
15535, 0930-1230 303 CVC English
13635, 1230-1830 303 CVC English
15250, 2300-0200 290 CVC Indonesian
17820, 0400-1000 290 CVC Indonesian
9890, 1000-1300 290 CVC Indonesian
11925, 1300-1700 290 CVC Indonesian
-----------------------------------
11825, 1300-1430 340 RA Chinese
12010, 2200-2400 317 RA English [except Burmese 2300-2330]
17665, 0000-0200 317 RA English [except Burmese 0100-0130]
11980, 1600-1700 317 RA English
9630, 2200-2330 290 RA Indonesian
15180, 0000-0030 290 RA Indonesian
0400-0430 290 RA Indonesian
0500-0530 290 RA Indonesian
-----------------------------------
9880, 1430-1530 3 JCI Japanese - Furusato no Kaze, alt 11995
9690, 1500-1530 3 JCI Korean - Nippon no Kaze, alt 11650
-----------------------------------
17755, 0700-0800 317 TDP English DRM 17750-17760
This should be useful in monitoring which transmissions are still going or end as of UT January 30, 31, or even February 1; and attempting to get a historically-dated QSL
Altho WRTH says Darwin has 2 x 100 kW, 3 x 250 kW, and 1 x 300 kW transmitters, all these are listed as 250, except for a semi-250 for DRM.
As in DXLD 10-04, RA has already added Palau frequencies for some of its Darwin transmissions, presumably using both sites temporarily in transition. This schedule accounts for maximum of four transmitters, so perhaps the `300` is the fourth unit being run at 250 instead (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Then Kai Ludwig replied that the transmitter power info in WRTH and Aoki, HFCC? is all wrong:
``The situation is such that two of the three 250 kW Collins transmitters from 1968 (the only other site still using such equipment is Sackville) have been disconnected and replaced by two Continental 100 kW transmitters, brought in from somewhere else (does anybody know the details?). But it seems that these transmitters are mere stand-by units and never in regular use.
``The third old Collins is still operational but has to be tuned manually now, requiring 15 minutes for a frequency change. This transmitter covers the peak requirements when four frequencies are on air simultaneously.
``Otherwise the site has the Thomson transmitter originally installed in 1984 at Carnarvon, the provisional site that remained in use for two decades. After its final closure in 1996 the transmitter was moved to Darwin. Two further Thomson units were purchased and installed at the Darwin site in 1994. These three 300 kW Thomson transmitters are the core of the operations nowadays.
``So far only the lease of the station grounds to Christian Vision has been discussed, but which arrangements have been made in regard to the equipment? The antenna system must have cost millions, and the transmitters certainly also still represented a considerable value in 2000, when two of them were just six years old.
``Has all this equipment just been given away by the Australian authorities (the broadcasting distribution service, nowadays Broadcast Australia, was not privatized yet at this point), have they sold it to Christian Vision for a reasonable price, or is it not the property of Christian Vision at all and instead used under some other kind of arrangement?`` [end quotation of Kai Ludwig`s comments to the dxldyg]
Not surprisingly, none of the listed Darwin frequencies were audible around 0600 Jan 30, altho in other yearparts, 17820 has made it here in the nightmiddle.
I resumed trying to hear Cox Peninsula at 1541 UT Jan 30, when it is already Jan 31 in the NT, so quite possibly the last day on the air. Propagation was certainly not favorable, but I could detect carriers on 13635 and 13685 from CVC, vs. extremely stronger signals on adjacent frequencies such as Albania [q.v.] 13640, Farda 13680.
Initially 13685 could be made out with a bit of modulation which sounded like English, but later Chinese. Perhaps language lesson. Or maybe not CVC: while the only station in the world ever using 13635 has been CVC Australia, on 13685, CRI via Mali is also scheduled at 13-16 in French, English and English.
After Tirana closed at 1601* I could still detect only a carrier on 13635, likewise 13685, so CVC apparently still on.
Meanwhile, Radio Australia was scheduled to start 11980 via Darwin at 1600, and this has been audible recently. From a few minutes before, only that blasted rapid clicking centered on 11982 was audible, and likewise after 1600, so Radio Australia seems to be gone already.
See above schedule for resumption at 2200 or 2300 of several Darwin frequencies, if they still exist one more day (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake music jamming, Jan 30 at 1532: good but fluttery on 8400; poor on 10210; just a het on 9000 and nothing on 7585 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. RRI doing well on 75 and 60 meters Jan 29: 3995 at 1342 with music whenever the SSB-senders would pause, i.e. Kendari.
4750, Makassar, best in quite a while at 1345 with semi-classical piano music, talkovers, still at 1413 when singing and violin had been added. SSOB except for 5025 Cuba at the outset.
9526-, VOI Jakarta, unusually on the air at 1534, since CRI East Turkistan 9525 had a het on it; CRI English dominated, but VOI probably also in English (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SAIPAN. IBB transmitter on 9725 is upacting again, Jan 30 at 1537 with Vietnamese from VOA, putting hash up to 9735 but apparently not to the low side. It could have been far worse as in previous logs, but needs tweaking now to prevent further deterioration (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SAUDI ARABIA. Buzzing Service of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, bad as it was Jan 29, got even worse Jan 30 at 1522 check. Now the horrible buzz from 15435 transmitter even QRMs its own // Qur`an service on 15225, as the full brunt covers roughly 15205-15500, with 4-per-minute pulsing edges reaching down to 15115 and up to 15940! At first the upper boundary between brunt and pulses was around 15500, but by 1526 it shifted up to 15840.
The only signal in this entire range which was strong enough to overcome it was Portugal on 15560; all other stations suffering harmful interference which is totally unnecessary, but will a single one of them complain? How about at HFCC A-10 imminent in Kuala Lumpur? If any Saudi reps are there, they should get an earful, e.g. from Dr Jerry Plummer representing WWCR and all private US stations.
Will a single one of victims` would-be listeners complain? How many of them would figure it`s a local noise problem rather than callously transmitted from Riyadh? Those who believe in the Qur`an might consider boycotting Sa`udi Arabia in any way possible including suspending their Hajj.
Wolfgang Büschel in Germany was also monitoring this and reported at 1601 Jan 30, neatly/nearly matching our obs: ``Top record, BSKSA Riyadh on 15435 kHz heavy BUZZ signal super wide in 15108 to 15938 kHz range. Scheduled 15-18 UT.`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SOUTH AFRICA. 17860, pleased to hear a bit of Bokmakirie birdchirping surviving from the old Radio RSA days, Jan 30 at 1459 as Channel Africa was about to open Swahili service with IDs also in English. Don`t often hear this transmission which is not aimed USward, of course, but 19 degrees from Meyerton (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SRI LANKA. 9650, Jan 30 at 1536, immediately identifiable tnx to DW riff, and S Asian language, flutter. I bet this is via Trincomalee. Yes, Aoki shows Bengali at 345 degrees, while before 1530 it`s Hindi at 15 degrees. Now, why wouldn`t they aim Bengali toward Bengal, instead of further west than Hindi?? Probably they do not, as HFCC shows them both at 15 degrees (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. Lavwadalmerik, checking the 0200 UT transition between overt and covert broadcasts to Haiti: Jan 30 at 0159:30, 5960 started playing ``Yellow Bird`` and it was shortly overlain by NHK IS via Canada starting Japanese trihour as Greenville went off. After 0200, LVA continued on 7465, but not heard on 7590 which was previously back on // until 0300. Unfortunately, I did not get around to checking for it later in the hour in case it was just late upcoming (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 4050, looking again for the KWMO third harmonic from Washington, MO, Jan 30 at 0606, traces of country music, a bit better at 0614 with YL DJ talking about who would sing the NA at the Superbowl. Just barely audible tho S-meter displayed S9; trouble is, the noise level on a clear frequency was S8. 0621 more country music peaking.
This matches the format when I heard them some weeks ago with a definite ID, but none this time. As for ``The Mouth`` slogan I mentioned yesterday, that has not been heard but listed in the NRC AM Log 2009-2010, when they had a talk format, probably outdated now.
Day power is 500 watts, night power 84 watts on fundamental 1350. Compared to inbooming AM hams on 80 meters as far away as New England, who could not be running more than 1000 watts, I could now believe the extremely weak KWMO signal on 4050 is really just a fraxion of the night power, not necessarily the day power (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
