mercoledì 10 marzo 2010

Glenn Hauser logs March 10, 2010

** AUSTRALIA. RA still not back to normal with various frequencies missing following hailstorm. Presumably antenna damage at Shepparton, let us hope not the transmitters themselves, but it would be nice if some definite info were availablized.

March 10 at 0619 audible on 15240 with poor propagation, but no show on other channels which normally accompany it: 15160, 13690, 13630, 12080. But yes, audible at 0628 on 9660, an echo apart from 15240 since 9660 is Brandon. Aoki shows all 9660 RA as DRM from 21 to 08, but I don`t think any of it is, certainly not when I hear RA around 0600 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** AUSTRIA. 6155, R. Austria International, March 10 at 0709 going from German news to English, starting with item about someone killed in Indonesia, to be followed by French two sesquiminutes later. Heavy QRM from Cuba 6150, so had to employ USB.

Ö1 plans to keep using 6155 in A-10, just barely, at 0500-0615 only, so presumably the M-F English news will continue, shifted to 0609 UT (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHINA [and non]. 13625, March 10 at 1347, Firedrake mixing with something, both poor. The latter would be IBB via TINIAN in Tibetan
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also EAST TURKISTAN

** EAST TURKISTAN. 13710, March 10 at 1338, W&M in French discussion, thought I might have something unusual in splash from Spanish VOA 13715, then into brief song duet in English, but 1344 ID as Radio Chine Internationale, and then mixing in Chinese, language lesson? 1354 found much clearer // on 15205, both via Kashgar.

13855, March 10 at 1351, Firedrake-like music but not // 13625, and not really the Firedrake ``jamming service`` as soon went into Chinese announcement. Aoki says 13855 is CRI in Chinese via Kashgar, during this hour only (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Note some of the Firedrake filed under CHINA may really be from this site, but we have no way of knowing (gh)

** INDONESIA. 9525.9, you never know whether VOI will stay on the air during the 14 UT hour, but it did March 10, at 1427 check in Indonesian talk, sufficient modulation, unlike English 25 hours earlier.

Atsunori Ishida has redesigned his website about all Indonesian shortwave broadcasting so it`s even more comprehensive, highly recommended:
http://www.max.hi-ho.ne.jp/a-ishida/ins/
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** IRAN [non]. 15410, R. Farda via Lampertheim, GERMANY, March 10 with music until 1358*. Sesquiminute break until resumed via Skelton, UK with much stronger signal here (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also PORTUGAL [and non]

** MEXICO [and non]. 6185, XEPPM, March 10 at 0105 free of ZYQRM; propagation from Brasil OK, e.g. 4985, 11780, 11815, so RNA surely must still be MIA.

Next check 0650, SIO 354 in clear, drumming, chanting and flute. 0750 still no RNA by the time it would normally be on, R. Educación with YL a cappella, same notes over and over with different Spanish lyrix (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MOROCCO. RTM gets more and more sloppy about the transition from 15341 to 15345. March 10 at 1502, 15341 was still on and just barely modulated (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** PORTUGAL [and non]. 15690, two stations mixing about 7 Hz apart, both with music at 1356 March 10. At 1358, Portugal`s NA, 1359 RDPI ID for 15690 to the ME, and the other station stops. It`s R. Farda until 1400 via SRI LANKA, and Portugal is not supposed to start until 1400; at least this frequency is in use M-F only (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** RUSSIA. 14996, March 10 at 1352, binary code; surely RWM Moscow on its distinctive frequency, but wish it would give clear CW if not voice IDs more often than 9 and 39 minutes past the hours. Not much signal from 15000 kHz stations, and 14996 also noticed the previous morning (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SPAIN [non]. 7220 via Kunming, CHINA, still hearing a snatch of the REE IS once or twice by mistake just before 1400 UT March 10 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** TURKEY [and non]. Between 14 and 15 UT M-F, there is a 3-way collision on 11815, Turkey, Japan and Costa Rican REE relay. March 10 at 1448 Japanese was on top with 3-way SAH. At 1505, REE had gone off, so the SAH was only 6 Hz between NHK and VOT; the latter sounded like sports coverage; at least the announcer got very excited periodically. By 1515 Turkish was dominant (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. VOA/Radio Martí co-produxion A Fondo, March 10 at 0107 check, on 7340 and 11625, but missing from 9415. Seems Greenville site has a lot of transmitter breakdowns.

BTW, I hear that the extra morning broadcast in Kreyòl to Ayiti from Lavwadlamerik at 1230-1330 on 9505 Greenville, and 6135 Bonaire, will be terminated after this week (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A [non]. We`ve recently noted how uncoördinated VOA is in the Korean service before and after 1400 which is supposed to be on 7235, first from TINIAN, then from Tinang, PHILIPPINES. A different snafu March 10:

7225, the tune-up frequency from Tinang, strong open carrier until 1400, then VOA audio cut on, still 7225, as a weaker SSB ham remarked upon it, W4XTD? Further east, he may not find it so overpowering.

Trouble is, 7225 is supposed to jump to correct 7235 right at 1400, but instead stayed on incorrect 7225. I kept monitoring, and the jump finally occurred at 1404:35. I hope all the Korean listeners were just as nimble to keep up with it (Glenn Hauer, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. WEWN seems to have reduced the strength of mushy spurs accompanying its English transmitter, but not eliminated them.

March 10 at 1350, I can detect the hash from 13835 on 13825, during long period of background noises only, made-for-TV morning mass. At the moment, WWCR Power Hower on 13845 was strong enough not to be bothered on the other side.

Same WEWN transmitter on 15610 at 1504 had spur centered on 15618.3 but weaker on the low-side equivalent. I think the spurs are really about 8.3 kHz above and below, but made more obvious when they beat against a weaker neighborvictim e.g. 15620, none at the moment (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A [and non]. 11714.9, KJES, Vado NM, March 10 at 1434, robokids singing medley of tunes with guitar accompaniment; weak at first and hard to identify, but sounded like ``You Are My Sunshine``, probably different lyrix. Initially really off-key kid seemed suppressed as time went on; then a Catholic version of ``Ave Maria``. 1440, ``Long, Long Ago``, a German beer-drinking song but with Spanish lyrix. 1442 a round, ``Alabaré a mi Señor``, now that`s more like it! 1447 to English catechism call-and-response. 1450 some Protestant song, ``Jesus is Born``. 1458 ``Saints Go Marching In``.

This date, KJES had no problem from co-channel but on-frequency R. Liberty Uzbek via Lampertheim, Germany until 1500. At 1508, now S9+20 with catechisms in English, hum but just barely modulated and could hear het from RVA via VATICAN underneath on 11715.0 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 2366, March 10 at 0643, ``LSA`` ND beacon from Lamesa TX, with MCW IDs, seventh harmonic of 338 kHz. Altho I am sure this is it whenever audible, I laboriously tune with BFO to try to copy a definite ID, difficult because it comes thru as negative keying. For some reason, it`s readable positively on the FRG-7`s USB rather than LSB (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A [and non]. I have bad news: the following localities are ``missing`` and have presumably been sucked into the Bermuda Triangle. Repeated announcement on 6604-USB, March 10 at 0649 says ``missing`` after each: Miami, Nassau, Orlando, Atlanta, Tampa, West Palm Beach, Bermuda. Presumably WSY70, New York Radio as per
http://www.dxinfocentre.com/volmet.htm and at 0650 over to VFG Gander with real VOLMET for its localities (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. Since there were several reports of LV de la RASD, Polisario via ALGERIA, reactivated March 9 in the 20-24 UT period, I was standing by for its morning sign-on March 10: at 0659, a noisy carrier on 6297.1 must be it; sounds like waves crashing, but never developed any intelligible audio and went off at 0704:45*. I kept tuned until 0707 but it did not come back. Better luck tomorrow (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###