** ANTARCTICA. 15476, LRA36 audible on another Thursday, April 29 at 1237 weak carrier, very poor but some music. 1323 singing audible. While Woofferton is on 15480 at 1300-1430, this makes quite an abnormal 4 kHz het, another tipoff that the Archangel is present (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. 15795, Chinese talk in the clear at 1236 April 29, so AIR`s Chinese service is unjammed? No! 15795 quickly confirmed as the CNR1 jammer since // 12040 where there`s also a CNR1 echo against VOA. Not a trace of India itself audible on 15795.
15255, CNR1 echo jammer also here, April 29 at 1238, vs VOA Chinese via Tinang, Philippines at 11-13.
Lots of CNR1s all over the dial as jammers or non-, but at 1240 April 29 I start looking for Firedrakes. Only these found in the 8-19 MHz range:
12970, good at 1240
10300, good at 1241 vs ute bursts
9150, very good at 1242; unusual frequency
8400, good at 1243
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 15190, good strength open carrier April 29 at 0551, still at 0617. Has to be R. Africa in typical pointless incompetent behaviour, but EqG has fuel to burn? Band was open, altho nothing from Nigeria on 15120, presumably not on. Australia was in well on 15160 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** JAPAN [non]. 13840, something in French April 29 at 0554 mentioning Champs Elysées à Paris. Has some squishy ute QRM about 13842. 0558 R. Japon IDs and contact info, to 0600* timesignal and 2 or 3 notes of NHK IS before cut off air. Fair signal, compared to much better NHK Russian on 11715. 13840 could have arrived directly too, but really 295 degrees via MADAGASCAR (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. Reactivated! 6045, XEXQ, Radio Universidad de San Luís Potosí. April 29 at 1205 as I tune across this frequency, I hear Elgar`s Pomp & Circumstance March (No. 5, I think), which was always the sign-on theme of XEXQ when last heard in 2008. Then Spanish announcement mentioning mexicana, and Pemex, probably a government PSA. 1212 mixing music with talk, including partial ID ``Sintonizas al 11-90 de la amplitud modulada``, which chex as the XEXQ MW frequency. 1213 timecheck for 7:12, into classical hits, as always at wake-up time.
1224 operatic duet, then something from Magic Flute, 1229 announcement and more opera, 1234 Barber of Seville; 1244 weaker but recognizable with Triumphal March from Aïda. 1259 becomes JBA with Spanish announcement, 1306 still audible with classical, but just about faded out. Winter sign-on is circa 1300, so we have DST since April 4 to thank for forcing XEXQ to open an hour earlier while some propagation remains, but window will narrow until past Solstice.
Good modulation but weak and fading vs noise level. Presumably 1 kW transmitter which they were running at considerably less when last heard. Pretty weak at 1224, peaking at S9+8, compared to regular XEOI on 6010 which was steadier and stronger at S9+10.
Luckily, altho Asian reception was good today, there is no co-channel QRM during this hour. Current schedules show nothing either on 6045 until India from *1430. Zimbabwe and Uruguay may be on at 12-13, but certainly not propagating far in daytime.
Frequency is axually slightly low, and this matches consistent measurements at 6044.93 by Ron Howard, CA and Terry Krueger, FL, before it went silent 16+ months ago. DXLD archive finds the last reports were from Ron on Jan 11 and 17, 2009 when weekend sign-off was early at 0100*. Ron also had it Dec 24, 2008 at 0235. Krueger had heard it Jan 2, 2009 at 1419. My last report was Dec 26, 2008, a trace at 1352, also heard Dec 24 at 1332, and barely Dec 22 at 1459.
Current schedule remains to be determined; EiBi lists 1200-2400, extended Tue-Sat until 0530. However, VOA Hausa via Ascension is at 0500-0530, and KBS via Sackville 0600-0700, so look for it before 0500 and 0600.
It`s great to have XEXQ back, reasserting Mexico`s lead over the USA in cultural broadcasting on SW, now two active stations vs zero here. We may have hundreds of public radio stations on FM, AM and IBOC, but not a single one has ever had the vision to represent the best of America to the world by adding SW (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** RUSSIA. 5930, at 1229 April 29, R. Rossii, Pet/Kam, motorboating and colliding with REE in Spanish via COSTA RICA, already using 5930 at 11-14 weekdays. Also a fast SAH because Cariari is off-frequency. Meanwhile ex-5920 is clear!
Why in the world did RR move? VOR had also been scheduled on 5930 at 10-14 in Chinese and Mongolian westward from Vladivostok, but surely that had to move off, to where? Then there`s Monchegorsk, longitude 33 east, R. Rossii which was (is?) also on 5930 at 01-21. Could it have been unacceptable QRM on 5920 from also dirty transmitter of WBOH --- except it took this long to accomplish the QSY in Russia, now long after that station is kaput? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TURKEY. 15450, VOT`s Live from Turkey, Thursday April 29 starting abnormally late at 1308 with usual catchy theme which doubles as opener and closer, and ``Hello, hello, hello``, inconsequential studio conversation starting with end-of-world parties scheduled for 11 July 2012, and if needed, 20 December 2012, ha ha. (First we have to get past 21 May 2011!). Poor signal and I had more to monitor elsewhere.
This show was supposed to be a world-wide call-in, but has never taken off, lacking proper promotion and user-friendly setups; haven`t heard any callers in weeks, and there used to be only a couple of people who ever participated (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [non]. 12140, April 29 at 1349 VG and steady S9+18 signal, YL with musical background, Burmese-like language, into drama with M&W, SFX, bit of singing with guitar; at 1355 I notice there is a low het but main signal off abruptly at 1358. I was comparing frequency to OKC 1140 and concluded that this one was slightly off, unlike the het.
Uplooked later, it`s R. Free Asia via KUWAIT at 1330-1400, in Burmese (but was it really a dialect?), to be followed by RFA in Vietnamese via Sri Lanka, which was probably the on-frequency het source, tho I was not hearing it alone at 1400 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 15867 approx., as I tuned by heard SSB at 1318 April 29, American accented YL repeating a position report, I think in the lat-40s, long-70s. Kept listening for 15 minutes but heard nothing more except occasional digital bursts. Matches a previous log of mine in DXLD 9-073 of Sept 27 at 1329. Coast Guard?? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
** CHINA. 15795, Chinese talk in the clear at 1236 April 29, so AIR`s Chinese service is unjammed? No! 15795 quickly confirmed as the CNR1 jammer since // 12040 where there`s also a CNR1 echo against VOA. Not a trace of India itself audible on 15795.
15255, CNR1 echo jammer also here, April 29 at 1238, vs VOA Chinese via Tinang, Philippines at 11-13.
Lots of CNR1s all over the dial as jammers or non-, but at 1240 April 29 I start looking for Firedrakes. Only these found in the 8-19 MHz range:
12970, good at 1240
10300, good at 1241 vs ute bursts
9150, very good at 1242; unusual frequency
8400, good at 1243
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 15190, good strength open carrier April 29 at 0551, still at 0617. Has to be R. Africa in typical pointless incompetent behaviour, but EqG has fuel to burn? Band was open, altho nothing from Nigeria on 15120, presumably not on. Australia was in well on 15160 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** JAPAN [non]. 13840, something in French April 29 at 0554 mentioning Champs Elysées à Paris. Has some squishy ute QRM about 13842. 0558 R. Japon IDs and contact info, to 0600* timesignal and 2 or 3 notes of NHK IS before cut off air. Fair signal, compared to much better NHK Russian on 11715. 13840 could have arrived directly too, but really 295 degrees via MADAGASCAR (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. Reactivated! 6045, XEXQ, Radio Universidad de San Luís Potosí. April 29 at 1205 as I tune across this frequency, I hear Elgar`s Pomp & Circumstance March (No. 5, I think), which was always the sign-on theme of XEXQ when last heard in 2008. Then Spanish announcement mentioning mexicana, and Pemex, probably a government PSA. 1212 mixing music with talk, including partial ID ``Sintonizas al 11-90 de la amplitud modulada``, which chex as the XEXQ MW frequency. 1213 timecheck for 7:12, into classical hits, as always at wake-up time.
1224 operatic duet, then something from Magic Flute, 1229 announcement and more opera, 1234 Barber of Seville; 1244 weaker but recognizable with Triumphal March from Aïda. 1259 becomes JBA with Spanish announcement, 1306 still audible with classical, but just about faded out. Winter sign-on is circa 1300, so we have DST since April 4 to thank for forcing XEXQ to open an hour earlier while some propagation remains, but window will narrow until past Solstice.
Good modulation but weak and fading vs noise level. Presumably 1 kW transmitter which they were running at considerably less when last heard. Pretty weak at 1224, peaking at S9+8, compared to regular XEOI on 6010 which was steadier and stronger at S9+10.
Luckily, altho Asian reception was good today, there is no co-channel QRM during this hour. Current schedules show nothing either on 6045 until India from *1430. Zimbabwe and Uruguay may be on at 12-13, but certainly not propagating far in daytime.
Frequency is axually slightly low, and this matches consistent measurements at 6044.93 by Ron Howard, CA and Terry Krueger, FL, before it went silent 16+ months ago. DXLD archive finds the last reports were from Ron on Jan 11 and 17, 2009 when weekend sign-off was early at 0100*. Ron also had it Dec 24, 2008 at 0235. Krueger had heard it Jan 2, 2009 at 1419. My last report was Dec 26, 2008, a trace at 1352, also heard Dec 24 at 1332, and barely Dec 22 at 1459.
Current schedule remains to be determined; EiBi lists 1200-2400, extended Tue-Sat until 0530. However, VOA Hausa via Ascension is at 0500-0530, and KBS via Sackville 0600-0700, so look for it before 0500 and 0600.
It`s great to have XEXQ back, reasserting Mexico`s lead over the USA in cultural broadcasting on SW, now two active stations vs zero here. We may have hundreds of public radio stations on FM, AM and IBOC, but not a single one has ever had the vision to represent the best of America to the world by adding SW (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** RUSSIA. 5930, at 1229 April 29, R. Rossii, Pet/Kam, motorboating and colliding with REE in Spanish via COSTA RICA, already using 5930 at 11-14 weekdays. Also a fast SAH because Cariari is off-frequency. Meanwhile ex-5920 is clear!
Why in the world did RR move? VOR had also been scheduled on 5930 at 10-14 in Chinese and Mongolian westward from Vladivostok, but surely that had to move off, to where? Then there`s Monchegorsk, longitude 33 east, R. Rossii which was (is?) also on 5930 at 01-21. Could it have been unacceptable QRM on 5920 from also dirty transmitter of WBOH --- except it took this long to accomplish the QSY in Russia, now long after that station is kaput? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TURKEY. 15450, VOT`s Live from Turkey, Thursday April 29 starting abnormally late at 1308 with usual catchy theme which doubles as opener and closer, and ``Hello, hello, hello``, inconsequential studio conversation starting with end-of-world parties scheduled for 11 July 2012, and if needed, 20 December 2012, ha ha. (First we have to get past 21 May 2011!). Poor signal and I had more to monitor elsewhere.
This show was supposed to be a world-wide call-in, but has never taken off, lacking proper promotion and user-friendly setups; haven`t heard any callers in weeks, and there used to be only a couple of people who ever participated (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [non]. 12140, April 29 at 1349 VG and steady S9+18 signal, YL with musical background, Burmese-like language, into drama with M&W, SFX, bit of singing with guitar; at 1355 I notice there is a low het but main signal off abruptly at 1358. I was comparing frequency to OKC 1140 and concluded that this one was slightly off, unlike the het.
Uplooked later, it`s R. Free Asia via KUWAIT at 1330-1400, in Burmese (but was it really a dialect?), to be followed by RFA in Vietnamese via Sri Lanka, which was probably the on-frequency het source, tho I was not hearing it alone at 1400 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 15867 approx., as I tuned by heard SSB at 1318 April 29, American accented YL repeating a position report, I think in the lat-40s, long-70s. Kept listening for 15 minutes but heard nothing more except occasional digital bursts. Matches a previous log of mine in DXLD 9-073 of Sept 27 at 1329. Coast Guard?? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
