** AUSTRALIA [and non]. R. Australia still missing from some frequencies, March 9: at 1343 discussion about English expressions, on 6020 and 9590 but not on 9580 or 9560. The latter weaky could have been there unheard, but 9580 definitely missing, clearing frequency for CRI via CUBA hash from 9570.
After 1400, RA confirmed weakly on 6080 and 5995 vs YFR via Pet/Kam. Also missing: 7240 at 1458, normally from *1400, tho there was some weak signal on 7240, presumably Lhasa, 100 kW, 290 degrees, only thing else scheduled. At 1521, RA audible on 5995, 6080 and 9590 only.
Noel Green has the explanation to DXLD: ``Radio Australia has reportedly suffered damage to the Shepparton facilities after a severe hail storm last week.`` He also found several higher RA frequencies missing earlier on March 9.
Such a significant outage ought to be prominently explained on the homepage. Of course not! Then I try its internal search on HAIL SHEPPARTON, which gets zero hits, but instead asks ``did you mean DAILY CHARTING?`` Of course not! Off the wall, so helpful.
BTW, the Australian city is spelt with an A, and the England one with an E, Shepperton, easy to remember, but critical for searching.
Googling around, one can get lots of stuff about the hail hitting Shep and Melbourne, but unfound anything specifically about RA which is what really puts Shepparton on the world map. Hmm, wouldn`t it be nice if they had some backup/redundancy elsewhere in Australia, say Cox Peninsula? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA [and non]. Firedrake March 9: at 1345 on 9380 could tell it was in the mix with something, presumably Deutsche Welle in Dari via ARMENIA, which hardly deserves such treatment, rather than Sound of Hope. At 1458, Firedrake JBA on 8400 and definitely audible on 9000 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA [and non]. 11600, DCJC normally starts at 1600 against alleged R. República ham-level transmitter in Central America which we have never detected, but March 9 the jamming pulses were already going at 1349. No collateral damagee at this hour, but Prague is on 11600 at 1400-1530 in English, French, Spanish; at 1502 the jamming was atop it. Commies vs ex-Commies! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CYPRUS [and non]. 17555-17580, OTH radar pulses, presumed from here, March 9 at 1436, bothering only a weak broadcaster on 17555, which must have been WYFR (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. VOI, 9525.9, March 9 at 1346 at first seemed modulationless, but then could barely outmake the tones of the RRI Banjarmasin co-host on Tuesdays only. Useless (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KURDISTAN [non]. 11530, wonderful Kurdish music from the PKK terrorists, March 9 from 1415 to 1500*, i.e. V. of Mesopotamia, via UKRAINE. Good reception even on the breakfast table DX-390 with reel-out clip-on antenna extension. They got back on the air only two days after the raids in Belgium; from a different studio?? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NETHERLANDS ANTILLES. March 9 at 1439, no TDP DRM on 15745, nor TDP AM on 15760, so must have been a one-day-only test March 8. Andy Sennitt got the details from Jan Peter Werkman at RN.
``Hi Andy, Yes we did the DRM as planned on 15745 kHz and when it was on air we also decided to do it in AM on 15760 kHz to compare AM and DRM.
Than a few minutes later we also tried 17840 kHz on 50 degrees in AM on the 3rd transmitter to compare propagation between 15760 and 17840 kHz. But this test only lasted a few minutes as the SWR was not good so we decided to shut down that transmission. This all at about 1300 UT. I am not aware of any other tests on 17 MHz later. Maybe Bonaire was testing on a dummy load. I don't know.
The main purpose of this test was to try to feed the DRM data from the DRM content Server to the modulator in Bonaire via Internet as an MDI-stream for the first time. This was successful. Regards JP``
So it looks like 17840 must have been Bonaire too, as who else would be running RN programming on the same frequency later the same day? But it was certainly no dummy load.
About The Disco Palace, the domain www.thediscopalace.com has been registered by TDP, so it appears it is really just another facet of Transmitter Documentation Project itself.
The website is attributed to someone in Belgium. Give the homepage time to morph the virtual palace from day to night. Doubt we would find it on the 8th floor of a Miami building as given in the contact info; and do Alyx & Yeyi, what strange names, really exist? Maybe someone would drop in for a visit.
The Disco Palace
c/o Alyx & Yeyi, LLC
5201 Blue Lagoon Drive, 8th Floor
Miami, FL 33126 U.S.A.
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** PERU. 18057.9, detectable very weak talk at 1437 March 9, third harmonic of R. Victoria, 6019.3 --- which had been causing a het to VOA Greenville, French until 0630 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** RUSSIA [and non]. 6075, March 9 at 0625, a time when I normally hear DW German via UK in the clear, instead that awful motorboating roar and some audio mixing with DW. It`s pretty early, but not too early, for Petro/Kam to be propagating before sunset there which was coming down at 0717 UT. Same noise at next check 1400 before closing a semi-minute later with no sign of 8GAL. I fear we must do without it until next November (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 18530, WINB, 2 x // 9265, March 9 at 1504, Brother Scare JBA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** VATICAN [non?]. 17750, March 9 at 1404 surprised to hear someone in Italian, then voice-over in Spanish. It`s spoxecelebate Padre Lombardi talking about sexual abuse.
Special transmission? If so, it has already been removed from http://www.radiovaticana.org/coorpro/entrasmisspec.htm
which as of a bihour later only mentions something papal on March 10.
But this cuts off abruptly at 1406* clearing 17750 for splash from WYFR 17760. 17750 is not scheduled as a VR frequency from any where at any time but there is Spanish at 1400-1415 which per WRTH 2010 is supposed to be only on these SW frequencies: 7250, 9645. Test, or mistake? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** VIETNAM [non]. 12130, March 9 at 1450 station in Vietnamese, fair signal. It`s R Free Asia via SRI LANKA during this hour only, CODAR QRM. But no QRM from AFN Florida 12133.5-USB, off? Checked 7811 and that was weakly audible; 5446.5 not audible, too much noise? Back to 12133.5 at 1452 and now JBA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 15370, March 9 until 1442* open carrier, fair signal. No clues in listings; probably another warmup-only frequency by IBB or the like (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
After 1400, RA confirmed weakly on 6080 and 5995 vs YFR via Pet/Kam. Also missing: 7240 at 1458, normally from *1400, tho there was some weak signal on 7240, presumably Lhasa, 100 kW, 290 degrees, only thing else scheduled. At 1521, RA audible on 5995, 6080 and 9590 only.
Noel Green has the explanation to DXLD: ``Radio Australia has reportedly suffered damage to the Shepparton facilities after a severe hail storm last week.`` He also found several higher RA frequencies missing earlier on March 9.
Such a significant outage ought to be prominently explained on the homepage. Of course not! Then I try its internal search on HAIL SHEPPARTON, which gets zero hits, but instead asks ``did you mean DAILY CHARTING?`` Of course not! Off the wall, so helpful.
BTW, the Australian city is spelt with an A, and the England one with an E, Shepperton, easy to remember, but critical for searching.
Googling around, one can get lots of stuff about the hail hitting Shep and Melbourne, but unfound anything specifically about RA which is what really puts Shepparton on the world map. Hmm, wouldn`t it be nice if they had some backup/redundancy elsewhere in Australia, say Cox Peninsula? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA [and non]. Firedrake March 9: at 1345 on 9380 could tell it was in the mix with something, presumably Deutsche Welle in Dari via ARMENIA, which hardly deserves such treatment, rather than Sound of Hope. At 1458, Firedrake JBA on 8400 and definitely audible on 9000 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA [and non]. 11600, DCJC normally starts at 1600 against alleged R. República ham-level transmitter in Central America which we have never detected, but March 9 the jamming pulses were already going at 1349. No collateral damagee at this hour, but Prague is on 11600 at 1400-1530 in English, French, Spanish; at 1502 the jamming was atop it. Commies vs ex-Commies! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CYPRUS [and non]. 17555-17580, OTH radar pulses, presumed from here, March 9 at 1436, bothering only a weak broadcaster on 17555, which must have been WYFR (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. VOI, 9525.9, March 9 at 1346 at first seemed modulationless, but then could barely outmake the tones of the RRI Banjarmasin co-host on Tuesdays only. Useless (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KURDISTAN [non]. 11530, wonderful Kurdish music from the PKK terrorists, March 9 from 1415 to 1500*, i.e. V. of Mesopotamia, via UKRAINE. Good reception even on the breakfast table DX-390 with reel-out clip-on antenna extension. They got back on the air only two days after the raids in Belgium; from a different studio?? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NETHERLANDS ANTILLES. March 9 at 1439, no TDP DRM on 15745, nor TDP AM on 15760, so must have been a one-day-only test March 8. Andy Sennitt got the details from Jan Peter Werkman at RN.
``Hi Andy, Yes we did the DRM as planned on 15745 kHz and when it was on air we also decided to do it in AM on 15760 kHz to compare AM and DRM.
Than a few minutes later we also tried 17840 kHz on 50 degrees in AM on the 3rd transmitter to compare propagation between 15760 and 17840 kHz. But this test only lasted a few minutes as the SWR was not good so we decided to shut down that transmission. This all at about 1300 UT. I am not aware of any other tests on 17 MHz later. Maybe Bonaire was testing on a dummy load. I don't know.
The main purpose of this test was to try to feed the DRM data from the DRM content Server to the modulator in Bonaire via Internet as an MDI-stream for the first time. This was successful. Regards JP``
So it looks like 17840 must have been Bonaire too, as who else would be running RN programming on the same frequency later the same day? But it was certainly no dummy load.
About The Disco Palace, the domain www.thediscopalace.com has been registered by TDP, so it appears it is really just another facet of Transmitter Documentation Project itself.
The website is attributed to someone in Belgium. Give the homepage time to morph the virtual palace from day to night. Doubt we would find it on the 8th floor of a Miami building as given in the contact info; and do Alyx & Yeyi, what strange names, really exist? Maybe someone would drop in for a visit.
The Disco Palace
c/o Alyx & Yeyi, LLC
5201 Blue Lagoon Drive, 8th Floor
Miami, FL 33126 U.S.A.
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** PERU. 18057.9, detectable very weak talk at 1437 March 9, third harmonic of R. Victoria, 6019.3 --- which had been causing a het to VOA Greenville, French until 0630 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** RUSSIA [and non]. 6075, March 9 at 0625, a time when I normally hear DW German via UK in the clear, instead that awful motorboating roar and some audio mixing with DW. It`s pretty early, but not too early, for Petro/Kam to be propagating before sunset there which was coming down at 0717 UT. Same noise at next check 1400 before closing a semi-minute later with no sign of 8GAL. I fear we must do without it until next November (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 18530, WINB, 2 x // 9265, March 9 at 1504, Brother Scare JBA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** VATICAN [non?]. 17750, March 9 at 1404 surprised to hear someone in Italian, then voice-over in Spanish. It`s spoxecelebate Padre Lombardi talking about sexual abuse.
Special transmission? If so, it has already been removed from http://www.radiovaticana.org/coorpro/entrasmisspec.htm
which as of a bihour later only mentions something papal on March 10.
But this cuts off abruptly at 1406* clearing 17750 for splash from WYFR 17760. 17750 is not scheduled as a VR frequency from any where at any time but there is Spanish at 1400-1415 which per WRTH 2010 is supposed to be only on these SW frequencies: 7250, 9645. Test, or mistake? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** VIETNAM [non]. 12130, March 9 at 1450 station in Vietnamese, fair signal. It`s R Free Asia via SRI LANKA during this hour only, CODAR QRM. But no QRM from AFN Florida 12133.5-USB, off? Checked 7811 and that was weakly audible; 5446.5 not audible, too much noise? Back to 12133.5 at 1452 and now JBA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 15370, March 9 until 1442* open carrier, fair signal. No clues in listings; probably another warmup-only frequency by IBB or the like (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
