** ARGENTINA. While checking out Darwin, Jan 31 at 2201, also punched up 15345v, and there was R. Nacional with live sports, not 11710v as we were led to believe is used on Sunday evenings instead (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** AUSTRALIA. Since we knew that the CVC English transmission around 1430 UT Jan 31 on 13635 was ``the last one on shortwave`` as announced, I made another routine check of Darwin frequencies at 2200 UT Jan 31, not expecting to hear anything, but the three of them were still on!
Tune in 12010 at 2159 to find open carrier, and 2200 sharp, start modulating R. Australia news, as 24 hours earlier; slightly delayed compared to Shep 15560 and a longer delay on 12040 via Palau.
On 9630, Indonesian had also started, R. Australia, and music on 9585, presumably CVC Chinese as previously scheduled.
So where does that leave us? No clean break, depending on the station or language service, not all stopped at the end of January. It is now indisputably February everywhere east of Central Europe and West Africa.
Then I heard from Craig Seager in Australia, that the scheduled Darwin frequencies ceased to be heard after 2400 UT, so the final final close-down apparently was timed according to the end of January according to UT.
At 1515 UT Feb 1, no signals detectable on 13635 or 13685. But annoying clicking in the 13685-13690 range (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** AUSTRALIA. Something amiss with R. Australia transmissions, as English on 9475 at 1450 was much stronger than // 9590, discussing radiation hazards in space. Why? Because 9590 is registered as 30 degrees, and 9475 as 329 degrees, both from Shepparton, so 9590 is much closer to USward and normally is stronger. 9590 on low power, or one of them on wrong antenna? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CYPRUS. OTH radar rapid pulses, presumed from here, Feb 1 at 1518 ranging 15700-15755 as I was checking the extent of the Sa`udi buzz; more pulses below 15495 merging with the buzz and not to be confused with its edges (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CZECHIA [and non]. 13580, R. Prague gone around 1515 Feb 1; used to be Spanish to America, but one of many frequencies canceled so they can use only one transmitter at a time; also applies to English at 1400, but both still on 11600, along with French intervening. That is often audible here before the Cuban jamming starts at 1600.
English at 1400 on 11600 is for S Asia now, but 13580 had been a good reliable morning English broadcast for us; we`ll miss it. North America still gets English on five transmissions between 2100 and 0427, but we would gladly swap two of them for retaining one in the mornings.
Furthermore, R. Prague relays via WRMI are being reduced, apparently no longer English at 1500 on 9955, once the NW antenna and the 50 kW transmitter are back in service, which Jeff White expects to be soon. He says Prague in English is to be scheduled daily, only at 0300 and 1000 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDIA [and non]. 9690, AIR GOS with perpetual big hum, Monday Feb 1 at 1430 tune-in, time for mailbag Faithfully Yours, which was pre-empted last week by Republic Day speech earlier in the hour. Hosted by main announcer Sanjit --- and a co-host whose name I could not catch. First up was mail from someone in China who reported on several AIR English frequencies (not mentioning that AIR`s Mandarin frequencies are jammed). Someone referred to it instead as ``Sincerely Yours``.
Next a letter from Hannover, Germany, in November! Emphasized that no return postage is wanted, IRCs or money, as the Indian Government pays the postage, and any such enclosures risk the letter being stolen. Also pointed out that 11620 to Europe has been replaced by 6180 at the end of October, and another new frequency is 7550; please try them.
This is sounding VERY familiar. I am afraid AIR GOS is playing back an old FY I already heard several weeks ago. Yet another old letter from 16 November, Hiroyuki Okada, 38, electrical engineer in Japan who reported on 9690. They get lots of mail from Japan, and another one dated 20 November. 1445 on to film music programme.
Not only did I waste my time hearing a rerun, but I completely forgot to check again this Monday whether REE`s Sephardic service was back on the 15385 air at 1425-1455, as it was missing last week! I could ask if anyone else noticed, but I am afraid there would be no responses (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. 3995, RRI Kendari, Sulawesi, nice signal at 1353 Feb 1 song with piano, occasional weak hets presumably from NAm hams. 1359 Indonesian announcement, and singing ID (?) jingle. Makassar 4750 also in well, but not much else (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** JAPAN. 3925, Feb 1 at 0648 ``Claire de Lune`` on piano, pretty clear with hams avoiding the frequency, thanks very much. JOZ, Radio Nikkei. I am a bit startled to be hearing it this early, 1548 JST. Again audible at 1352 UT shortly before closing, S9+20 with guitar or ukulele strumming but SSB hams nearby (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KOREA NORTH [and non]. V. of the People, from S to N Korea, big signal with music as I tuned across 6600 Feb 1 at 1407, S9+15 atop jamming, // 6512 almost as good. Usually the jamming is atop here.
6348, Echo of Hope, from S to N Korea, also atop jamming, with music at 1407, but 6003 had nothing but noise jamming audible.
Same jamming on 6015 against the month-old KBS Hanminjok Bangsong 1, 100 kW ND from Hwaseong, S Korea, as per Aoki, itself inaudible. XEOI managed to squeeze in between; see MEXICO (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MALAYSIA. 5030, RTM Sarawak, 1403 Feb 1 announcement and song, fair against splash from Cuba 5025 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. 6010, XEOI during talk block, Feb 1 at 1409 with roundup of political news from BCN to QR, poor strength but clear in between the Juche jammers on 6003 and 6015 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MONGOLIA [and non]. 9665 with audible het Feb 1 at 1531, and a bit of music, as VOM`s English broadcast is scheduled. Trouble is, P`yongyang was already on this frequency long before, or rather never quite on it, with imprecise transmitter. What genius at VOM picked this channel? I suspect the music I could hear was from NK (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NORTH AMERICA. A friend passes on a twitter tip that The Crystal Ship is about to start another Sunday evening broadcast on 5385 AM, so I try it at 2337 Jan 31. Yes, there it is with ID mentioning ``freedom of the airwaves``, e-mail tcsshortwave @ gmail.com Axually closer to 5385.4, signal around S9+12 but with quite a bit of deep fading. I need to turn off local noise sources to increase its S/N ratio.
2338 on to ID in Spanish with echo. 2343 ``last briefing before atomic detonation; three things: blast, heat, radiation``. 2349, song ``Don`t Fear the Reefer``. (Did not hear any of the music identified on air.) 2354 unreadable child`s voice, then Tarzan yell, ID mentioning ``in glorious AM``, e-mail address again. 2355 song ``Big Muddy``, sounds like an early Pete Seeger. 2358 song ``The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence``, by Gene Pittney.
Now into UT Feb 1: after 0000 I am paying less attention as 60 Minutes is starting on CBS-TV. Seems to be more music now, fewer announcements but there is one at 0008; 0031 ``Official Voice of the Blue States Republic``, music with steel drums(?). 0039 ``El Paso`` by Marty Robins; 0058 still music audible, but not heard after 0100, off?
Enjoyed the familiar but seldom-heard tunes, creativity of the comedy and IDs; pse QSL (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 90m check at 1355 Feb 1 found signals with at least some audio, non-// music on 3365, 3345, 3325, 3315, all PNG frequencies; altho due to a great breakdown in regional frequency management, 3325 and 3345 are also active Indonesian frequencies. Nothing on 3385 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SAUDI ARABIA. 15435 buzz check Feb 1: at 1455 I started listening to Farda music on 15410, but blasted by the buzz from *1456. At 1518 I monitor its range today: not nearly as bad as last few days, but I suspect this is no sign of deliberate tightening up; rather due to random and/or propagational variation. Brunt covers only 15400-15475 and BBC can still be heard on 15400. 4x/minute clicking not audible beyond either side; 15435 itself metered just(?) S9+12. Covering *only* 75 kHz is of course totally unacceptable too, an improvement only by comparison to its usual range (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. Lavwadlamerik, VOA Creole at 2200 Jan 31 on 13725, but // 11905 did not cut on until 2102:45, par for the course at Greenville (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also UNIDENTIFIED 15390
** U S A. 17760, WYFR at 1525 Feb 1 with a bit of ``Onward, Christian Soldiers``, not the WHR version which has a monopoly on that as theme, but any missionary station is free to threaten Moslems in this way, marching as to war. And into Bible reading in English.
This frequency had very heavy flutter on it, like trans-polar or sometimes trans-equatorial, but the path from Okeechobee is neither, and I have noticed this before. Less than two megameters away, we must be on the edge of the skip zone at this time, not getting full signal altho not too far off the 285 degree WNW beam toward northern Mexico. Perhaps backscatter mix is involved; another possibility is meteor scatter, causing a Doppler effect so the WYFR signal interferes with itself (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 15160, beautiful performance of the Qur`an, by OM tenor cantor [what else? Inferior YLs aren`t allowed], Feb 1 at 1505, much stronger and clearer than BSKSA`s version on 15225; still going at 1535. I was thinking I had logged this recently, but not so, and unlisted, so it`s something new. One thing for sure: it`s not AWR via Austria as in PWBR 2009! Nothing shows in current Aoki, EiBi or HFCC. Must be one of the major stations (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 15390, open carrier briefly at *1525 Feb 1, presumably VOA Greenville testing its Kreyòl frequency, as often noted before around this time. Would it be too much to ask to add some IDs or Yankee Doodles? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
** AUSTRALIA. Since we knew that the CVC English transmission around 1430 UT Jan 31 on 13635 was ``the last one on shortwave`` as announced, I made another routine check of Darwin frequencies at 2200 UT Jan 31, not expecting to hear anything, but the three of them were still on!
Tune in 12010 at 2159 to find open carrier, and 2200 sharp, start modulating R. Australia news, as 24 hours earlier; slightly delayed compared to Shep 15560 and a longer delay on 12040 via Palau.
On 9630, Indonesian had also started, R. Australia, and music on 9585, presumably CVC Chinese as previously scheduled.
So where does that leave us? No clean break, depending on the station or language service, not all stopped at the end of January. It is now indisputably February everywhere east of Central Europe and West Africa.
Then I heard from Craig Seager in Australia, that the scheduled Darwin frequencies ceased to be heard after 2400 UT, so the final final close-down apparently was timed according to the end of January according to UT.
At 1515 UT Feb 1, no signals detectable on 13635 or 13685. But annoying clicking in the 13685-13690 range (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** AUSTRALIA. Something amiss with R. Australia transmissions, as English on 9475 at 1450 was much stronger than // 9590, discussing radiation hazards in space. Why? Because 9590 is registered as 30 degrees, and 9475 as 329 degrees, both from Shepparton, so 9590 is much closer to USward and normally is stronger. 9590 on low power, or one of them on wrong antenna? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CYPRUS. OTH radar rapid pulses, presumed from here, Feb 1 at 1518 ranging 15700-15755 as I was checking the extent of the Sa`udi buzz; more pulses below 15495 merging with the buzz and not to be confused with its edges (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CZECHIA [and non]. 13580, R. Prague gone around 1515 Feb 1; used to be Spanish to America, but one of many frequencies canceled so they can use only one transmitter at a time; also applies to English at 1400, but both still on 11600, along with French intervening. That is often audible here before the Cuban jamming starts at 1600.
English at 1400 on 11600 is for S Asia now, but 13580 had been a good reliable morning English broadcast for us; we`ll miss it. North America still gets English on five transmissions between 2100 and 0427, but we would gladly swap two of them for retaining one in the mornings.
Furthermore, R. Prague relays via WRMI are being reduced, apparently no longer English at 1500 on 9955, once the NW antenna and the 50 kW transmitter are back in service, which Jeff White expects to be soon. He says Prague in English is to be scheduled daily, only at 0300 and 1000 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDIA [and non]. 9690, AIR GOS with perpetual big hum, Monday Feb 1 at 1430 tune-in, time for mailbag Faithfully Yours, which was pre-empted last week by Republic Day speech earlier in the hour. Hosted by main announcer Sanjit --- and a co-host whose name I could not catch. First up was mail from someone in China who reported on several AIR English frequencies (not mentioning that AIR`s Mandarin frequencies are jammed). Someone referred to it instead as ``Sincerely Yours``.
Next a letter from Hannover, Germany, in November! Emphasized that no return postage is wanted, IRCs or money, as the Indian Government pays the postage, and any such enclosures risk the letter being stolen. Also pointed out that 11620 to Europe has been replaced by 6180 at the end of October, and another new frequency is 7550; please try them.
This is sounding VERY familiar. I am afraid AIR GOS is playing back an old FY I already heard several weeks ago. Yet another old letter from 16 November, Hiroyuki Okada, 38, electrical engineer in Japan who reported on 9690. They get lots of mail from Japan, and another one dated 20 November. 1445 on to film music programme.
Not only did I waste my time hearing a rerun, but I completely forgot to check again this Monday whether REE`s Sephardic service was back on the 15385 air at 1425-1455, as it was missing last week! I could ask if anyone else noticed, but I am afraid there would be no responses (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. 3995, RRI Kendari, Sulawesi, nice signal at 1353 Feb 1 song with piano, occasional weak hets presumably from NAm hams. 1359 Indonesian announcement, and singing ID (?) jingle. Makassar 4750 also in well, but not much else (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** JAPAN. 3925, Feb 1 at 0648 ``Claire de Lune`` on piano, pretty clear with hams avoiding the frequency, thanks very much. JOZ, Radio Nikkei. I am a bit startled to be hearing it this early, 1548 JST. Again audible at 1352 UT shortly before closing, S9+20 with guitar or ukulele strumming but SSB hams nearby (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KOREA NORTH [and non]. V. of the People, from S to N Korea, big signal with music as I tuned across 6600 Feb 1 at 1407, S9+15 atop jamming, // 6512 almost as good. Usually the jamming is atop here.
6348, Echo of Hope, from S to N Korea, also atop jamming, with music at 1407, but 6003 had nothing but noise jamming audible.
Same jamming on 6015 against the month-old KBS Hanminjok Bangsong 1, 100 kW ND from Hwaseong, S Korea, as per Aoki, itself inaudible. XEOI managed to squeeze in between; see MEXICO (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MALAYSIA. 5030, RTM Sarawak, 1403 Feb 1 announcement and song, fair against splash from Cuba 5025 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. 6010, XEOI during talk block, Feb 1 at 1409 with roundup of political news from BCN to QR, poor strength but clear in between the Juche jammers on 6003 and 6015 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MONGOLIA [and non]. 9665 with audible het Feb 1 at 1531, and a bit of music, as VOM`s English broadcast is scheduled. Trouble is, P`yongyang was already on this frequency long before, or rather never quite on it, with imprecise transmitter. What genius at VOM picked this channel? I suspect the music I could hear was from NK (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NORTH AMERICA. A friend passes on a twitter tip that The Crystal Ship is about to start another Sunday evening broadcast on 5385 AM, so I try it at 2337 Jan 31. Yes, there it is with ID mentioning ``freedom of the airwaves``, e-mail tcsshortwave @ gmail.com Axually closer to 5385.4, signal around S9+12 but with quite a bit of deep fading. I need to turn off local noise sources to increase its S/N ratio.
2338 on to ID in Spanish with echo. 2343 ``last briefing before atomic detonation; three things: blast, heat, radiation``. 2349, song ``Don`t Fear the Reefer``. (Did not hear any of the music identified on air.) 2354 unreadable child`s voice, then Tarzan yell, ID mentioning ``in glorious AM``, e-mail address again. 2355 song ``Big Muddy``, sounds like an early Pete Seeger. 2358 song ``The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence``, by Gene Pittney.
Now into UT Feb 1: after 0000 I am paying less attention as 60 Minutes is starting on CBS-TV. Seems to be more music now, fewer announcements but there is one at 0008; 0031 ``Official Voice of the Blue States Republic``, music with steel drums(?). 0039 ``El Paso`` by Marty Robins; 0058 still music audible, but not heard after 0100, off?
Enjoyed the familiar but seldom-heard tunes, creativity of the comedy and IDs; pse QSL (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 90m check at 1355 Feb 1 found signals with at least some audio, non-// music on 3365, 3345, 3325, 3315, all PNG frequencies; altho due to a great breakdown in regional frequency management, 3325 and 3345 are also active Indonesian frequencies. Nothing on 3385 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SAUDI ARABIA. 15435 buzz check Feb 1: at 1455 I started listening to Farda music on 15410, but blasted by the buzz from *1456. At 1518 I monitor its range today: not nearly as bad as last few days, but I suspect this is no sign of deliberate tightening up; rather due to random and/or propagational variation. Brunt covers only 15400-15475 and BBC can still be heard on 15400. 4x/minute clicking not audible beyond either side; 15435 itself metered just(?) S9+12. Covering *only* 75 kHz is of course totally unacceptable too, an improvement only by comparison to its usual range (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. Lavwadlamerik, VOA Creole at 2200 Jan 31 on 13725, but // 11905 did not cut on until 2102:45, par for the course at Greenville (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also UNIDENTIFIED 15390
** U S A. 17760, WYFR at 1525 Feb 1 with a bit of ``Onward, Christian Soldiers``, not the WHR version which has a monopoly on that as theme, but any missionary station is free to threaten Moslems in this way, marching as to war. And into Bible reading in English.
This frequency had very heavy flutter on it, like trans-polar or sometimes trans-equatorial, but the path from Okeechobee is neither, and I have noticed this before. Less than two megameters away, we must be on the edge of the skip zone at this time, not getting full signal altho not too far off the 285 degree WNW beam toward northern Mexico. Perhaps backscatter mix is involved; another possibility is meteor scatter, causing a Doppler effect so the WYFR signal interferes with itself (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 15160, beautiful performance of the Qur`an, by OM tenor cantor [what else? Inferior YLs aren`t allowed], Feb 1 at 1505, much stronger and clearer than BSKSA`s version on 15225; still going at 1535. I was thinking I had logged this recently, but not so, and unlisted, so it`s something new. One thing for sure: it`s not AWR via Austria as in PWBR 2009! Nothing shows in current Aoki, EiBi or HFCC. Must be one of the major stations (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 15390, open carrier briefly at *1525 Feb 1, presumably VOA Greenville testing its Kreyòl frequency, as often noted before around this time. Would it be too much to ask to add some IDs or Yankee Doodles? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
