** AUSTRALIA [and non]. Is Darwin still on the air January 31? Yes! But it should be the last day ever.
UT January 30 at 2159 I look for the three frequencies scheduled to start at 2200, 9585 CVC Chinese, 9630 RA Indonesian, and 12010 RA English --- nothing. But Maltilda is Waltzing on 15560, loud and clear from Shepparton; path from Darwin is rather different, but there should be some traces if on the air.
Then at 2200 I find RA on 12040 in English, which is the new Palau relay, news running about 3.5 seconds behind 15560. Must be quite a circuitous feed route; since VTC is involved, to London and back?
Finally at 2201 I am also hearing RA English on 12010, and that is Darwin, with a much shorter delay, less than one second or about one word behind 15560. It`s weaker than 12040. Must have come on a bit late, or at least without any prélude.
By 2206 I check the 31m channels again, and now I am getting them fairly: 9585 with music which I assume is CVC Chinese service, and 9630 in Indonesian talk, soon music, which fits for Radio Australia.
The fourth transmitter starts at 2300 with CVC Indonesian on 15250 (some sources say 15255), so here I repeat the full schedule showing that also at 2300 the 9585 service switches to 15170, and the 12010 service switches to Burmese (Glenn Hauser, OK, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
CVC Darwin rechecked shortly after 2300 UT Jan 30: 15170 audible weakly, succeeding 9585, used only for the first hour of CVC Chinese; 15250 for CVC Indonesian (and 15255) totally blocked by Venezuela via Cuba, of course. 12010 R. Australia no longer // talk on 12040, 15560, but music presumably in Burmese service.
UT Jan 31, surely the final day now, started checking at 1415:
13635 good with gospel rock or whatever they call such a format with indecipherable lyrix, just as well. At 1415 mentioned ``cvcradio.in``. 1418 YL DJ with Oz accent mentions this will be the final time on shortwave, so switch to mobile streaming (yeah, right).
Then greeted countless Kumars by the full name of each, of the Cosmos Club in India. As usual fast-paced format suitable for those with deficient attention spans; you never know when they are going to drop in an ID as the music plays.
Andrew Flynn of CVC HQ in England told me a few days ago that the SW transmissions via UZBEKISTAN for India would continue. He may have been referring only to the Hindi service, not the English service.
Hindi: 0000-0400 6260, 0100-0400 9425, 0400-1100 13630, 1100-1400 9500.
English: 0030-0230 7395, 0230-0630 11970, 0630-0930 15700.
1428 on 13635 she gives full website without the http which I always insert to assist hotlinking: http://www.cvcradio.in for song requests, or text 99-45-97-77-77. Will they play anything that is unChristian, or godforbid, off-format? I would have wanted to hear Stockhausen.
At 1430 it`s local midnight in Cox Peninsula and Feb 1 starts, but that`s only incidental as it is already midnight in Queensland, and four hours away in India, so the broadcast goes on. By 1440 the signal is weakening considerably; by 1504 recheck still audible; 1542 just a carrier detectable, tho on Sunday there is no Tirana ACI from 13640.
Meanwhile I was switching back and forth to CVC`s Chinese service on 13685, but paying less attention to it. At 1416 music presumably with a gospel element in Chinese; 1417 Chinese YL announcement. Fortunately, Habana has been missing from 13680 lately, but still some ACI from Farda Wertachtal, and just as much from very strong WYFR 13695, ever-increasing problems as 13685 weakened by 1504.
I assume that English on 13635 will play on until final final QRT at the usual time of 1830, and Chinese 13685 until 1800.
Also looked for the Kaze clands for North Korea, 9880 at 1430, 9690 at 1500, but nothing heard UT Jan 31, so already gone. I assume these will have switched to some other site(s). Monitoring Palau extensively, Hiroshi via Hasegawa reported as of Jan 29, only a different (?) one: 1530-1600 9965 JCIC Korean "Ilbone Baram". S. Hasegawa says he has not been able to confirm 9690 or 9880 for more than a week
As for what becomes of the Darwin facility, this is totally unclear, other than that CVC will now start ``dismantling`` it and get out by the time its lease expires in June (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** AUSTRALIA. Correlating with audibility of Cox Peninsula for the last time on 13 MHz, Morocco 15341 also had a strong het from HCJB Kununurra, Jan 31 at 1445 on 15340, but the Arabic audio was dominant as HCJB was scheduled just to have started English (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. RHC has been missing lately from 13680 in the mornings. That`s one of the hi-power signals normally // 13780 until 1500 and producing leapfrogs on 13880 and weaker 13580, so those are also absent, e.g. Jan 31 at 1416 as I am monitoring CVC Darwin Chinese final broadcast on 13685. Lacking RHC helps that a lot, but soon moot. All is not lost: RHC 13770 is still leapfrogging over CRI relay 13740 to land on 13710 QRMing India. 13680 was back later on with the weak daytime transmitter for Aló, Presidente; see VENEZUELA [non].
Routine check for weekly Esperanto service at 1500 Sunday on 11760: Jan 31 at 1503 only open carrier, off and on for several minutes, but at next check 1513 the Esperanto program was underway (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ITALY. After hearing Northern Ireland on 21290 [see UKOGBANI], I tuned a bit more on 15m. Mostly nothing, but just down on 21285, matching DW 15285, was another USB calling CQ from northern Italy, Dom, IW2CLM, Jan 31 at 1453 and soon in contact with someone in ``north central Oklahoma`` who was weaker here but audible, evidently by groundwave, so not far from Enid. Could not catch his call but his name was Dan. QRZ.com shows:
IW2CLM
Domenico Bova
Via G.B. Rota 22
Bergamo, 24124
Italy
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KOREA NORTH [and non]. 3973, noise jamming of the NK style centered here, Jan 31 at 1335, almost BFO-ing the Breakfast Club net with a number of US hams in the Midwest checking in, some also mentioning the unusual noise but not knowing its provenance. Sort of like an airplane engine revving as the pitch continually varies up and down.
Breakfast Club is in the final Nets to You of April 2007, as daily 1000 UT (0900 summer) on 3973. Apparently it goes on for hours and hours.
Nothing is known on 3973 needing jamming, but Aoki shows a 5 kW Wonsan transmitter of KCBS/Pyongyang BS on 3970, so perhaps that is out of whack, or repurposed for jamming as needed.
Usual NK jamming on 3985 mixing with Echo of Hope, Korean talk audible; and similar noise on 3912 against Voice of the People. Louder jamming on 3480 against KNDF, but not much signal from the 90m N Korean non-jammers, as checked until 1340 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SAUDI ARABIA. 15435 The Buzz, checked Jan 31 at 1539. Did not sound as loud as usual around 15435, but nevertheless full brunt could be heard down to 15300 or so, and 4-per-minute pulses down to 15140, so yes, again also QRMing BSKSA`s other Qur`an channel 15225 plus countless other stations. On the hi side, however, full brunt lasted only until 15470, and could not hear 4-per-minute pulses up from there, other stations seeming in clear, altho by now some TVs are on adding their own swish QRM possibly disaudiblizing the weaker pulses. But who says this monstrosity has to be symmetrical? Every little bit helps (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U K O G B A N I. Nice to hear some USB on 15m hamband, Jan 31 at 1449 on 21290, English with an Irish accent soon IDed as MI0JAT, mentioning that ``people don`t realize the band is open``; how true. He was in contact with a K4 or a W4. Hmm, are there any MI5-prefixed hams? QRZ.com says:
MI0JAT
Joey Mc Goldrick
23 Lettercarn Rd, Co Tyrone
Castlederg, N Ireland, BT8 17QY,
Northern Ireland
Hadn`t noticed any significant signals on 13m SWBC band, so searched again, and barely audible Spain on 21570, 21610; better Libya on 21695, all those with incomparably greater power than any ham, yet inferior results (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also ITALY
** VENEZUELA [non]. Quick check for ``Aló, Presidente``, Sunday via CUBA at 1656 UT Jan 31 found it running but the speaker at the moment unsounded like El Hugazo, perhaps a press-conference plant, on all five usual frequencies in order of increasing signal strength: 13680, 11690, 17750, 12010, 13750 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 13630, open carrier, noticed when checking doomed Darwin on 13635, Jan 31 at 1439; nothing remotely near this time scheduled in HFCC, Aoki or EiBi; not strong enough to detract from Darwin. Someone else might want this or 13635 from Feb 1 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
UT January 30 at 2159 I look for the three frequencies scheduled to start at 2200, 9585 CVC Chinese, 9630 RA Indonesian, and 12010 RA English --- nothing. But Maltilda is Waltzing on 15560, loud and clear from Shepparton; path from Darwin is rather different, but there should be some traces if on the air.
Then at 2200 I find RA on 12040 in English, which is the new Palau relay, news running about 3.5 seconds behind 15560. Must be quite a circuitous feed route; since VTC is involved, to London and back?
Finally at 2201 I am also hearing RA English on 12010, and that is Darwin, with a much shorter delay, less than one second or about one word behind 15560. It`s weaker than 12040. Must have come on a bit late, or at least without any prélude.
By 2206 I check the 31m channels again, and now I am getting them fairly: 9585 with music which I assume is CVC Chinese service, and 9630 in Indonesian talk, soon music, which fits for Radio Australia.
The fourth transmitter starts at 2300 with CVC Indonesian on 15250 (some sources say 15255), so here I repeat the full schedule showing that also at 2300 the 9585 service switches to 15170, and the 12010 service switches to Burmese (Glenn Hauser, OK, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
CVC Darwin rechecked shortly after 2300 UT Jan 30: 15170 audible weakly, succeeding 9585, used only for the first hour of CVC Chinese; 15250 for CVC Indonesian (and 15255) totally blocked by Venezuela via Cuba, of course. 12010 R. Australia no longer // talk on 12040, 15560, but music presumably in Burmese service.
UT Jan 31, surely the final day now, started checking at 1415:
13635 good with gospel rock or whatever they call such a format with indecipherable lyrix, just as well. At 1415 mentioned ``cvcradio.in``. 1418 YL DJ with Oz accent mentions this will be the final time on shortwave, so switch to mobile streaming (yeah, right).
Then greeted countless Kumars by the full name of each, of the Cosmos Club in India. As usual fast-paced format suitable for those with deficient attention spans; you never know when they are going to drop in an ID as the music plays.
Andrew Flynn of CVC HQ in England told me a few days ago that the SW transmissions via UZBEKISTAN for India would continue. He may have been referring only to the Hindi service, not the English service.
Hindi: 0000-0400 6260, 0100-0400 9425, 0400-1100 13630, 1100-1400 9500.
English: 0030-0230 7395, 0230-0630 11970, 0630-0930 15700.
1428 on 13635 she gives full website without the http which I always insert to assist hotlinking: http://www.cvcradio.in for song requests, or text 99-45-97-77-77. Will they play anything that is unChristian, or godforbid, off-format? I would have wanted to hear Stockhausen.
At 1430 it`s local midnight in Cox Peninsula and Feb 1 starts, but that`s only incidental as it is already midnight in Queensland, and four hours away in India, so the broadcast goes on. By 1440 the signal is weakening considerably; by 1504 recheck still audible; 1542 just a carrier detectable, tho on Sunday there is no Tirana ACI from 13640.
Meanwhile I was switching back and forth to CVC`s Chinese service on 13685, but paying less attention to it. At 1416 music presumably with a gospel element in Chinese; 1417 Chinese YL announcement. Fortunately, Habana has been missing from 13680 lately, but still some ACI from Farda Wertachtal, and just as much from very strong WYFR 13695, ever-increasing problems as 13685 weakened by 1504.
I assume that English on 13635 will play on until final final QRT at the usual time of 1830, and Chinese 13685 until 1800.
Also looked for the Kaze clands for North Korea, 9880 at 1430, 9690 at 1500, but nothing heard UT Jan 31, so already gone. I assume these will have switched to some other site(s). Monitoring Palau extensively, Hiroshi via Hasegawa reported as of Jan 29, only a different (?) one: 1530-1600 9965 JCIC Korean "Ilbone Baram". S. Hasegawa says he has not been able to confirm 9690 or 9880 for more than a week
As for what becomes of the Darwin facility, this is totally unclear, other than that CVC will now start ``dismantling`` it and get out by the time its lease expires in June (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** AUSTRALIA. Correlating with audibility of Cox Peninsula for the last time on 13 MHz, Morocco 15341 also had a strong het from HCJB Kununurra, Jan 31 at 1445 on 15340, but the Arabic audio was dominant as HCJB was scheduled just to have started English (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. RHC has been missing lately from 13680 in the mornings. That`s one of the hi-power signals normally // 13780 until 1500 and producing leapfrogs on 13880 and weaker 13580, so those are also absent, e.g. Jan 31 at 1416 as I am monitoring CVC Darwin Chinese final broadcast on 13685. Lacking RHC helps that a lot, but soon moot. All is not lost: RHC 13770 is still leapfrogging over CRI relay 13740 to land on 13710 QRMing India. 13680 was back later on with the weak daytime transmitter for Aló, Presidente; see VENEZUELA [non].
Routine check for weekly Esperanto service at 1500 Sunday on 11760: Jan 31 at 1503 only open carrier, off and on for several minutes, but at next check 1513 the Esperanto program was underway (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ITALY. After hearing Northern Ireland on 21290 [see UKOGBANI], I tuned a bit more on 15m. Mostly nothing, but just down on 21285, matching DW 15285, was another USB calling CQ from northern Italy, Dom, IW2CLM, Jan 31 at 1453 and soon in contact with someone in ``north central Oklahoma`` who was weaker here but audible, evidently by groundwave, so not far from Enid. Could not catch his call but his name was Dan. QRZ.com shows:
IW2CLM
Domenico Bova
Via G.B. Rota 22
Bergamo, 24124
Italy
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KOREA NORTH [and non]. 3973, noise jamming of the NK style centered here, Jan 31 at 1335, almost BFO-ing the Breakfast Club net with a number of US hams in the Midwest checking in, some also mentioning the unusual noise but not knowing its provenance. Sort of like an airplane engine revving as the pitch continually varies up and down.
Breakfast Club is in the final Nets to You of April 2007, as daily 1000 UT (0900 summer) on 3973. Apparently it goes on for hours and hours.
Nothing is known on 3973 needing jamming, but Aoki shows a 5 kW Wonsan transmitter of KCBS/Pyongyang BS on 3970, so perhaps that is out of whack, or repurposed for jamming as needed.
Usual NK jamming on 3985 mixing with Echo of Hope, Korean talk audible; and similar noise on 3912 against Voice of the People. Louder jamming on 3480 against KNDF, but not much signal from the 90m N Korean non-jammers, as checked until 1340 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SAUDI ARABIA. 15435 The Buzz, checked Jan 31 at 1539. Did not sound as loud as usual around 15435, but nevertheless full brunt could be heard down to 15300 or so, and 4-per-minute pulses down to 15140, so yes, again also QRMing BSKSA`s other Qur`an channel 15225 plus countless other stations. On the hi side, however, full brunt lasted only until 15470, and could not hear 4-per-minute pulses up from there, other stations seeming in clear, altho by now some TVs are on adding their own swish QRM possibly disaudiblizing the weaker pulses. But who says this monstrosity has to be symmetrical? Every little bit helps (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U K O G B A N I. Nice to hear some USB on 15m hamband, Jan 31 at 1449 on 21290, English with an Irish accent soon IDed as MI0JAT, mentioning that ``people don`t realize the band is open``; how true. He was in contact with a K4 or a W4. Hmm, are there any MI5-prefixed hams? QRZ.com says:
MI0JAT
Joey Mc Goldrick
23 Lettercarn Rd, Co Tyrone
Castlederg, N Ireland, BT8 17QY,
Northern Ireland
Hadn`t noticed any significant signals on 13m SWBC band, so searched again, and barely audible Spain on 21570, 21610; better Libya on 21695, all those with incomparably greater power than any ham, yet inferior results (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also ITALY
** VENEZUELA [non]. Quick check for ``Aló, Presidente``, Sunday via CUBA at 1656 UT Jan 31 found it running but the speaker at the moment unsounded like El Hugazo, perhaps a press-conference plant, on all five usual frequencies in order of increasing signal strength: 13680, 11690, 17750, 12010, 13750 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 13630, open carrier, noticed when checking doomed Darwin on 13635, Jan 31 at 1439; nothing remotely near this time scheduled in HFCC, Aoki or EiBi; not strong enough to detract from Darwin. Someone else might want this or 13635 from Feb 1 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
