** ALBANIA. 13640, R. Tirana to NAm, Feb 12 at 1530 resumed English after an excursion into Albanian the day before; Friday feature program after the news to be ``Albanian Outstanding Personality Profile``; usual good clear signal, and now there`s not a chance of QRM from Darwin 13635 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** AUSTRALIA. 15340, Feb 12 at 1355 talk in unID language, with a big het from Morocco 15341, presumably HCJB Kununurra as scheduled in Hindi 1330-1400. I wonder if the QRMorocco is a problem in India? I don`t hear the het later when Morocco is still on 15341 until about 1500 and wonder if HCJB really closes earlier than scheduled 1530? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA [and non]. 9905 with two stations in Chinese about equal level and SAH of 1.2 Hz between them, i.e. R. Free Asia via PALAU, and CNR1 ChiCom jamming, Feb 12 at 1504 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. RHC`s English listeners in the nightmiddle usually have at least one frequency on 49m, but Feb 12 at 0710 check they were all in Spanish: 6060, 6120, 6140, 6150; the usual very lo-fi compressed audio on 6120 compared to the others.
DCJC pulses against nothing (? Or R. República, other exile peanut-whistles?) Feb 12 at 0716 on 6520, just over 24 hours since heard same on 6580. With BFO I could make out a very weak carrier on 6522, possible target. Nothing on 6580 at first, but next tuneby at 0717 found same noise going on 6575.
More but not all the DCJC transmissions have added multi-tone beeping to the mix, such as 11930 vs Martí at 1526 Feb 12. Perhaps their own monitors got bored with the usual programming and decided to liven it up a bit.
Grinding noise wall with no tones on 11600, Feb 12 at 1732 check, believed to be against a R. República transmitter in Central America, guess which country, not California as I first assumed (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CYPRUS. 18065-18090, OTH radar pulsing, presumed from here, Feb 12 at 1428 inside the so-called 17-meter hamband. Go get `em, intruder busters (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ECUADOR. I have looked for HD2IOA timesignal station on 3810 numerous times in the 0600-0700+ UT period, with no results, but Feb 12 at 0655 there it was with quite readable signal on LSB (not USB as some reports have it), time announcements every 10 seconds in Spanish, which go for example: ``Al oir el tono, será la una hora, 55 minutos, 20 segundos`` (pause), beep.
As soon as I had heard this a few times, on came the hams at exactly the same frequency, W6LC in California 200 miles N of the Bay Area, with KI4THY in Lynchburg TN, discussing this station, which one of them opined was ``a military beacon in Ecuador`` --- well yes, it`s military of the Instituto Oceanográfico de la Armada, but can`t they tell it`s a timesignaller?
The QSO was wrapping up after 0659 as I was hoping for a full ID. Something like that may have been inserted around 0659:40 but am not sure; clear of QRhaM for a while again after 0700. I checked against WWV which only announces time once a minute, and it was right on (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ETHIOPIA. 7165, Feb 12 at 1512 with weak music vs SSB hams coming and going; 7110 at same time with weak talk and music vs CW hams, but nothing on 7175. Long path, both Gedja transmitters, per Aoki with V. of Democratic Alliance on 7165, R. Ethiopia on 7110 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GERMANY [non]. 15640, am still hearing DW in German after 2200 UT, altho DX Mix News Bulgaria reported the relay via WHRI had been cancelled. Wolfgang Büschel also finds it on IBB Monitoring clips Feb 7 and 8 (Glenn Hauser, Feb 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** JAPAN [non]. During nice 13m opening, see SAUDI ARABIA, much weaker signal audible on 21560 with NHKWNRJ in English via FRANCE, Feb 12 at 1426 // only a reverb apart from same program via Canada 11705 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KOREA NORTH. 7580, very weak signal with music and talk in Japanese, 0720 Feb 12 --- VOK Japanese service is here at 0700-1250 and 2100-2350, per Aoki, with Farda and Cairo occupying most of the rest of the time. VOK also audible on 7140 with Pyongyang Pangsong homeservice relay (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. 6104.8, another capture of XEQM, Mérida, Yucatán at what seems to be its ideal time here, after 0700 UT: Feb 12 at 0704, numerous promos as ``Candela --- la más grande`` which is quite a claim for a 250(?) watt SW station, but of course they aren`t really talking about the only transmitter we can hear. Good peaks at S9+10 but deep fades, another characteristic of this for some reason.
Quick ads for Coca Cola, carnaval, plus Noticieros de la Cadena RASA, segunda emisión, lunes a viernes 7-8 de la noche. Clock always seems fast: 0706 timecheck as 1:07, phone, text numbers; 0709 TC for 1:11. Hyper OM DJ keeps chattering and won`t let the music just play unimpeded (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** OKLAHOMA. 1170, KVOO Tulsa has resumed IBOC noise on the sides, after several days` respite. Feb 11 around 2045 UT on the caradio I found a spot quiet enough to evade local noise override and could tell it was there again, so that explains the IBOQRM against KSL-1160 I was getting the night before at 0715.
Yes, KSPI 780 Stillwater is putting out spurs, as previously noted hets on 770, 780 and 790 on the 10-kHz stepping caradio. Feb 12 at 2157 I tried on the DX-398 portable, and from Stillwater direxion, could detect weak carriers very close to 776 and 784 kHz, which have really been there for months (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SAIPAN. 11635, VOA Indonesian, Fri-Sat-Sun 14-15 additional service heard Feb 12 at 1455, good signal but it was in English! Somewoman being interviewed about climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, with consecutive translation, but rudely chopped off at 1458:05* as transmitter no doubt needed somewhere else, and the program producers in Washington make no such concessions by building in natural breaks or interval-signal pauses (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SAUDI ARABIA [and non]. 13m is hopping again tnx to solar flux reaching 94, but it`s supposed to cycle downward again soon. BSKSA with good strong S9+10 signals, Feb 12 at 1420 on 21460 with HQ, separate Arabic on 21505 // 21640 --- and none of them buzzy! Signals at first rivalled Spain on 21610, 21570, 21540, but Riyadh faded down before Noblejas. Libya also in well on 21695, NHK English via France audible on 21560 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SIERRA LEONE [non]. 11875, Cotton Tree News, currently via Rampisham UK, fair Feb 12 at 0731, two heavily accented OM in English discussing Commonwealth (Games?), right next to WEWN 11870 but more or less separable. In the A-seasons this is on 15220 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. After widely-heard testing in late January on 5755, 9480/9475, WTWW silent as expected first week of Feb since George McClintock was away at HFCC Kuala Lumpur. Now that he`s back, I asked him, what`s next, and he replied Feb 10:
``Still repairing some RF modules but ran out of parts today. Programming to start sometime next week. We will first program the transmitter with audio for several days. This will be without the transmitter being on to fully test computers and the streaming audio on the Internet. Then several days of programming tests with the transmitter on.
``After that, full time broadcasting. There are still several 24 hour programmers that want a transmitter. I will make a last minute decision based on what is best for WTWW to add transmitters and programmers in some logical order. This actually makes sense since one of them is not ready at this time. The best laid plans of men ---``.
BTW, don`t you believe that I ever heard WTWW on 5955, as typoed in the Feb BDXC-UK Communication (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 7095, WWCR mixing product of 4775 leaping over 5935 just barely audible at peaks above threshold, Feb 12 at 0722. Talk by former porn star who now dresses modestly and professes to be a linguistic and Bible scholar, could make // 5935 PMS (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 9955, WRMI, Feb 12 at 0724 VG steady S9+10, tnx to solar flux of 94 as of Feb 11, YL talking about Haitian gang problem, as another R. Prague relay via WRN was about to end; no jamming audible.
Yet another Prague relay in English having ended at 1528, station was attempting to give its transmission schedule in French, when WRMI cut to a promo for a preacher Sat 11:30 am, 9 pm and one other time.
Since WRMI has trouble updating its website, Jeff White sends us new xls program grids from time to time in ET, and the Feb 12 edition has been availablized on the DXLD yahoogroup, showing that to be: Tell the World Ministry for 15 minutes, the other time being Sat 7:45 am EST.
1529:30 UT WRMI ID, 1530 WORLD OF RADIO 1499 as scheduled on Fridays; fair signal, no jamming, but weak SAH from YFR Russian via Taiwan and overload from PPP WWCR 9980 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. Observed the day before in Spanish prior to 1600, WINB appears to have filled in the 2-hour gap at 14-16 UT still showing on its program schedule. 13570, Feb 12 at 1434, English preacher saying that sinning Christians will have a harder time in hell than pagans; hmmm. Modulation has been repaired temporarily, but the carrier remains slightly unstable when BFO-checked, vs CODAR.
At 1507 another guy in English with anti-Obama, anti-government monolog edited together eliminating natural pauses. Listened a while, and apparently it`s the very same entity he refers to in third-person, Peter Schiff, who is primarily a gold-pusher, but also has ambitions for the US Senate from Connecticut (Googling soon confirms this), discussing how he gets more financial support from bigger states, but hasn`t really mounted a full campaign yet. 1516 took a caller from Denmark who apologized for being a foreigner getting into this discussion. Still going past 1531 with another alien caller (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [non]. 11985, Feb 12 at 1527, arrgh, there he is on another new frequency, wacky Brother Camping with Open Forum from YFR, usual clix on lo side from DCJC spur(?). During previous hour only, 14-15, 11985 bears VOA English via Lampertheim with echo, but what`s the site for this? I sure hope casual foreign listeners don`t think Camping is with VOA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 1660, Feb 11 around 2100 on caradio, dominant station is carrying caraces, no sign of classical music. Could this be KXTR Kansas City KS?? No music heard later, and at 0053 UT Feb 12, there was sportstalk about the Jayhawx, i.e. KU, nearby Lawrence KS, so it looks like KXTR has undergone a radical format change, and not some propagational quirk inbringing the next closest 1660 stations, Fargo and Waco, which are both ESPN.
Or has it? KXTR 1660 has previously broken away from classical to carry stupid minorleague ballgames, mostly in the evenings. Website http://www.kxtr.com would still make you think it`s nothing but classical, not sports, but if you click on schedule page all you get is a further link, to coupons! Somehow, it seems KXTR 1660 is not that serious about classical music programming.
The classical format also runs on the HD2 IBOC channel of the 98.1 FM station, so possibly the Entercom group considers that to be primary instead of surely secondary based on possible listenership, and uses 1660 as a dumping ground for sports specials or whatever needs to pre-empt the stated format.
What`s on the stream may stay classical? It was anyway when checked later around 0130: http://player.streamtheworld.com/_players/entercom/player/?id=KXTR
I was also monitoring 1660 around 0005 UT Feb 12, and was definitely hearing some Mexican music down in the mix --- most likely KXOL in Brigham City UT, which is now a latino hotbed? This almost an hour before Feb local sunset there of 0100 UT, so still on 10 kW day power; much more likely than another SS, but religious, Merced CA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. 6297.2, have not heard LV de la RASD for at least a couple weeks at various chex after 0700 UT; is anyone hearing them morning or evening? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ZANZIBAR. 11735 is another signal we have not heard for quite a while; via BDXC-UK Communication as of Jan 30, Victor Goonetilleke in Sri Lanka said he had not heard it since Dec 4 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 6010, steady S9+10 open carrier Feb 12 at 1515-1516*, and could barely imagine XEOI underneath. Similar level to Australia 5995 but it was not so steady. Likely North American source, such as Greenville or maybe Sackville? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
