** CUBA. Another secret unscheduled time for En Contacto, RHC`s Spanish DX program, in progress UT Monday April 12 at 0551 with Manolo acknowledging mail from Lima, Puebla, on 6150, 6120, 5040.
12025 with lite jamming pulses, April 12 at 1314 against nothing, but bothering RHC on 12030! May be spur from 11845, DCJC lower on the band, or possibly mixing out of the 12030 transmitter itself.
Before 1400 there was no R. Martí on 11930 and no jamming either; at 1423 heavy jamming with pulse spurs out to 11910-11955 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** EAST TURKESTAN/EAST TURKISTAN [depending on your spell check]. During G3-storm-disturbed propagation conditions, April 12 at 1341, nothing much audible on the SW bands beyond single-hop, southerly or trans-equatorial signals, but one trans-polar was making it on 13670, Chinese singing/opera, fair with flutter, and splash from Cuba 13680; 1355 to Chinese talk, 1357 off. Aoki shows CRI in Chinese via Urümqi, 500 kW due west (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 15190, R. Africa at unusual hour of 0526 April 12, closing one gospel huxter with a 6-digit PO box in ZIP 74170, which is Tulsa, brief pause, no ID, and YL opening another show. Fair with slow fading. Also in: NIGERIA, q.v. (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. Altho VOI`s English hour was missing from 9525.9 April 11 during the 13 UT hour when propagation was good, its off-frequency carrier was just barely detectable at 1339 April 12, when propagation was very disturbed.
At this time hi-latitude signals from Asia below 12 MHz were absent or greatly attenuated, as were signals from Europe above 12 MHz; K-index at 12 UT was 2 and a strong G3 geomag storm was in progress, per WWV on 5000 at 1318 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MADAGASCAR. 13840, good signal April 12 at 0533 two YLs with news in French frequently mentioning Japon, which is fitting since this is NHK, at 0530-0600.
13710, April 12 at 0534 news in French, voice sounds very much like R. Japan on 13840, but not //, and soon ID with jingle for La Voix de l`Amerique, i.e. VOA via Madagascar at 0530-0600 M-F; BTW, the second half of this French hour at 0600-0630 on 13710 switches to Botswana; why? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NIGERIA. After hearing Equatorial Guinea 15190 on nightpath, I checked 15120, and there was VON at 0529 April 12, modulation somewhat distorted, ending Today in History, plugging listening via http://www.voiceofnigeria.com? Not sure of the .com.
No, going there, that site`s footer admits it is not the radio station, instead refers to http://www.voiceofnigeria.org Some drumming, fair with fades, signal quite similar to 15190, stronger than Australia 15160 which often is the SSOB or OSOB at this hour.
BTW, VON`s language and frequency schedule is in flux; Thorsten Hallmann, Alan Roe and Tony Rogers are trying to sort it out, as reported in the dxldyg and upcoming DXLD 10-15 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** RUSSIA. 13775, VOR finally propagating with good signal on the only frequency retained for English to NAm at 04-06, 50 degrees from Vladivostok; good modulation too, YL in story narrative with music and war SFX. Scheduled is ``Timelines``. But at next check 0558 right before sign-off, was fading out and becoming JBA! Apparently the G3 magstorm had hit the path in the meantime. This could be avoided by using a relay to the south!
At 0545 I caught the propagation report on WWVH 10000. K index was 7! at 0300, and G3 storms were raging (not a word used by the SWPC). At first I thought that K7 must be mistaken, since hi-latitude path from DVR was obviously funxioning well; after 0300 until 0545 SW reception seemed generally enhanced rather than outwiped, e.g. Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria too, qq.vv. on 15 MHz.
But later found mid-latitude K-index at 0300 indeed shown as 7 on 3-hourly e-mail Geophysical Alert from WWV, subsiding to only 4 at 0600 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TINIAN. 15635, April 12 at 0532, fair signal in Chinese, probably RFA scheduled at 03-07, rather than ChiCom jamming due to current propagation favoring Pacific over Asia. Nothing else to or from China audible on 19m band (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. Checking new WORLD OF RADIO time on WWCR-4, Sundays 2330 on 9980: April 11 at 2333, audible enough to confirm but very poor signal, down from normal blast earlier in daytimes. Strangely, WWCR-2 on 9350 was MUCH stronger. Published azimuths for these are 90 and 85 degrees respectively, both of which should be ideal for OK off-the-back westward.
Furthermore, WTWW on 9479, just a few myriameters further, was stronger still. So at this moment was the MUF somewhere in the middle of the 31m band, advantaging the lower channels? And/or 9980 not running full 100 kW power? I hope at further more favorable skip distances, 9980 was still inbooming. BTW, Rick Barton in AZ says 15825 is excellent there, more than double the distance to Enid, for the Friday 2030 WOR airing (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 13380, April 12 at 0539, extremely strong S9+25 carrier, not local since also had slight fading, and shortly began sending digital data bursts. This is like we have also heard on 11435, probably from CUBA, e.g. DXLD 9-082 under UNIDENTIFIED (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
12025 with lite jamming pulses, April 12 at 1314 against nothing, but bothering RHC on 12030! May be spur from 11845, DCJC lower on the band, or possibly mixing out of the 12030 transmitter itself.
Before 1400 there was no R. Martí on 11930 and no jamming either; at 1423 heavy jamming with pulse spurs out to 11910-11955 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** EAST TURKESTAN/EAST TURKISTAN [depending on your spell check]. During G3-storm-disturbed propagation conditions, April 12 at 1341, nothing much audible on the SW bands beyond single-hop, southerly or trans-equatorial signals, but one trans-polar was making it on 13670, Chinese singing/opera, fair with flutter, and splash from Cuba 13680; 1355 to Chinese talk, 1357 off. Aoki shows CRI in Chinese via Urümqi, 500 kW due west (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 15190, R. Africa at unusual hour of 0526 April 12, closing one gospel huxter with a 6-digit PO box in ZIP 74170, which is Tulsa, brief pause, no ID, and YL opening another show. Fair with slow fading. Also in: NIGERIA, q.v. (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. Altho VOI`s English hour was missing from 9525.9 April 11 during the 13 UT hour when propagation was good, its off-frequency carrier was just barely detectable at 1339 April 12, when propagation was very disturbed.
At this time hi-latitude signals from Asia below 12 MHz were absent or greatly attenuated, as were signals from Europe above 12 MHz; K-index at 12 UT was 2 and a strong G3 geomag storm was in progress, per WWV on 5000 at 1318 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MADAGASCAR. 13840, good signal April 12 at 0533 two YLs with news in French frequently mentioning Japon, which is fitting since this is NHK, at 0530-0600.
13710, April 12 at 0534 news in French, voice sounds very much like R. Japan on 13840, but not //, and soon ID with jingle for La Voix de l`Amerique, i.e. VOA via Madagascar at 0530-0600 M-F; BTW, the second half of this French hour at 0600-0630 on 13710 switches to Botswana; why? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NIGERIA. After hearing Equatorial Guinea 15190 on nightpath, I checked 15120, and there was VON at 0529 April 12, modulation somewhat distorted, ending Today in History, plugging listening via http://www.voiceofnigeria.com? Not sure of the .com.
No, going there, that site`s footer admits it is not the radio station, instead refers to http://www.voiceofnigeria.org Some drumming, fair with fades, signal quite similar to 15190, stronger than Australia 15160 which often is the SSOB or OSOB at this hour.
BTW, VON`s language and frequency schedule is in flux; Thorsten Hallmann, Alan Roe and Tony Rogers are trying to sort it out, as reported in the dxldyg and upcoming DXLD 10-15 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** RUSSIA. 13775, VOR finally propagating with good signal on the only frequency retained for English to NAm at 04-06, 50 degrees from Vladivostok; good modulation too, YL in story narrative with music and war SFX. Scheduled is ``Timelines``. But at next check 0558 right before sign-off, was fading out and becoming JBA! Apparently the G3 magstorm had hit the path in the meantime. This could be avoided by using a relay to the south!
At 0545 I caught the propagation report on WWVH 10000. K index was 7! at 0300, and G3 storms were raging (not a word used by the SWPC). At first I thought that K7 must be mistaken, since hi-latitude path from DVR was obviously funxioning well; after 0300 until 0545 SW reception seemed generally enhanced rather than outwiped, e.g. Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria too, qq.vv. on 15 MHz.
But later found mid-latitude K-index at 0300 indeed shown as 7 on 3-hourly e-mail Geophysical Alert from WWV, subsiding to only 4 at 0600 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TINIAN. 15635, April 12 at 0532, fair signal in Chinese, probably RFA scheduled at 03-07, rather than ChiCom jamming due to current propagation favoring Pacific over Asia. Nothing else to or from China audible on 19m band (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. Checking new WORLD OF RADIO time on WWCR-4, Sundays 2330 on 9980: April 11 at 2333, audible enough to confirm but very poor signal, down from normal blast earlier in daytimes. Strangely, WWCR-2 on 9350 was MUCH stronger. Published azimuths for these are 90 and 85 degrees respectively, both of which should be ideal for OK off-the-back westward.
Furthermore, WTWW on 9479, just a few myriameters further, was stronger still. So at this moment was the MUF somewhere in the middle of the 31m band, advantaging the lower channels? And/or 9980 not running full 100 kW power? I hope at further more favorable skip distances, 9980 was still inbooming. BTW, Rick Barton in AZ says 15825 is excellent there, more than double the distance to Enid, for the Friday 2030 WOR airing (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 13380, April 12 at 0539, extremely strong S9+25 carrier, not local since also had slight fading, and shortly began sending digital data bursts. This is like we have also heard on 11435, probably from CUBA, e.g. DXLD 9-082 under UNIDENTIFIED (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
