** BRAZIL. High-latitude paths wiped out by geomag storm, leaving little but weak Brazilians on 25m, April 6 at 0616, wacky wailing preacher David Miranda detectable on 11765v and something surely Bandeirantes on 11925 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CANADA [and non]. For the first time in many months, geomagnetic storms reaching the G3 level have occurred, says SWPC, and the K-index hit 7 at 12 UT on April 5. Since then every three hours the K has been reported as 5-4-3-2-5-6-4-4-4, ending at 15 UT April 6. Solar flux and A-indices: April 4, 79 and 12; April 5, 79 and 37.
This has severely degraded SW reception, except on the lower frequencies and except for southerly paths on some higher bands. For example, April 6 at 1355, CRI relay via Sackville on 15260 was quite weak instead of usual inbooming, while // 9650 was still strong. Hardly anything else audible on 19m except REE/Costa Rica 15170; nothing from Europe. See also USA, for nighttime observations of WRMI, WYFR, WTWW, WWCR, WWRB (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. Typo in previous report of RHC schedule:
15380 runs 11-23 and 00-05 to Buenos Aires. (not 11-12!)
Further chex of RHC new schedule: April 6 at 0608 English on new 5970 which is ex-6140 now missing, and sounds just like it did, with low modulation, // 6010 and 6060. At 0624 a stronger image appeared on 5960, receiver mix due to overload from 6060 and 6010, but vanished with attenuation. Spanish was only on 6120, 6150 and 5040 at 0608.
At 1402 I monitored the frequency announcement on 11760: same as yesterday, in fact I think recorded as speaker hesitated at exactly the same spot, before saying 11730 --- still omitting 12030 and 15380, while claiming to be on abolished 11800 and 13760, i.e.:
``15120, 15360, 13760, 13680, 13780, 11760, 11730, 11800, 6110``
New 12030 was also again audible, but not 15380 due to poor propagation (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** OKLAHOMA. Enid`s X-band station, 1640 has just changed format. It had been Fox sports talk, but who needs that with Chisholm Trail`s other station KCRC 1390 also sportstalk with ESPN?? Well, we ``needed`` that for several years. But this church-on-every-streetcorner town has an even greater ``need`` ---
First noticed April 6 as I tuned by at 0618 UT playing country gospel music! 0621 slogan thrice as ``solid gospel music``, and ``The new Faith 1640``. Are the calls still KFXY?
Yes, next check at 1557 UT again slogan ``The new Faith 1640``, and 1559 legal ID as ``KFXY, Enid-Oklahoma City, bringing you the best, a better variety of southern gospel music, the new Faith 1640``.
1600 into SRN News, which consists of two minutes of seemingly secular world news, a minute of religious promotion, and the remaining two minutes of the ``news`` with a pro-Christian, anti-Moslem slant.
1605 back to gospel music. Thus KFXY has switched from one totally useless format to another, as far as I am concerned. Now that I have got the word out, back to ignoring 1640.
As a reminder, this station is one of few on the X-band with a direxional antenna, same day and night, NNW/SSE from a site a few miles east of Hennessey, so it gets into city of license OK and also into Oklahoma City, 10 kW day and 1 kW night, --- but makes it difficult to DX in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, and also in much of North America, off the sides of the beam (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 11970, new frequency for VOA Spanish, April 5 at 2350 with report about controversy over some musical event in Shanghai, // and synchronized with 9885 so suspect it is Greenville. Have not found it on any schedule yet, apparently a last-minute change for listed 11625; also // heavily jammed 5890 but no jamming audible on 11970 yet. Poor signal as propagation is pitiful today with high K-indices and G3-level geomag storms (see CANADA).
Wolfgang Büschel had heard something in Spanish here a few days ago, April 1 after 0000, which would be the Tue-Sat A Fondo program.
Yes, at 0015 check April 6, nothing on 11625, but 11970 // 9885 // 5890 with A Fondo, and no jamming audible on any of them now, unlike // 6030 R. Martí with same program this hour (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WWRB, 5050, recently expanded to all-night operation, was always running Biblical dramatizations in English when I tuned across it, but at 0428 April 6 in Spanish instead with programming called ``Con la Biblia Abierta`` which may be from the same source. Tnx to an inquiry from José Elías Díaz Gómez, Venezuela, who had just heard an unID, something in Spanish IDing as Radio Mundial.
They plugged website http://www.conlabibliaabierta.com which has an uninformative Radiodifusión link with nothing about WWRB, but mentions 1700 and 1500 kHz in South Florida and Cuba, including a program called Radio Mundial.
WWRB hasn`t updated its own program schedule for ages, nothing about this or anything past ET midnight at
http://www.wwrb.org/schedule/global_2/combined.pdf
Did not recheck until 0601 when 5050 was back in English (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. High-latitude paths missing due to high K-indices, leaving southerly signals at good or better levels than usual, April 6 at 0614, WRMI 9955, R. Prague via WRN, in English with Science Journal, appropriately about robots, the very concept of which originated in Czechia with Karel Chapek`s R.U.R. SF story of the early twenties.
From across the lake, WYFR was also extremely strong on 31m, 9715, 9680, 9355 and new 9385 ex-9340.
Nearby signals above 5 MHz which usually hold up well thru the nightmiddle, WTWW 5755, WWCR 5890 and 5935 were quite weak; WWCR 4840 strong enough but less signal than usual; and the lower ones loud and unaffected, WWCR 3215 and WWRB 3185 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
** CANADA [and non]. For the first time in many months, geomagnetic storms reaching the G3 level have occurred, says SWPC, and the K-index hit 7 at 12 UT on April 5. Since then every three hours the K has been reported as 5-4-3-2-5-6-4-4-4, ending at 15 UT April 6. Solar flux and A-indices: April 4, 79 and 12; April 5, 79 and 37.
This has severely degraded SW reception, except on the lower frequencies and except for southerly paths on some higher bands. For example, April 6 at 1355, CRI relay via Sackville on 15260 was quite weak instead of usual inbooming, while // 9650 was still strong. Hardly anything else audible on 19m except REE/Costa Rica 15170; nothing from Europe. See also USA, for nighttime observations of WRMI, WYFR, WTWW, WWCR, WWRB (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. Typo in previous report of RHC schedule:
15380 runs 11-23 and 00-05 to Buenos Aires. (not 11-12!)
Further chex of RHC new schedule: April 6 at 0608 English on new 5970 which is ex-6140 now missing, and sounds just like it did, with low modulation, // 6010 and 6060. At 0624 a stronger image appeared on 5960, receiver mix due to overload from 6060 and 6010, but vanished with attenuation. Spanish was only on 6120, 6150 and 5040 at 0608.
At 1402 I monitored the frequency announcement on 11760: same as yesterday, in fact I think recorded as speaker hesitated at exactly the same spot, before saying 11730 --- still omitting 12030 and 15380, while claiming to be on abolished 11800 and 13760, i.e.:
``15120, 15360, 13760, 13680, 13780, 11760, 11730, 11800, 6110``
New 12030 was also again audible, but not 15380 due to poor propagation (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** OKLAHOMA. Enid`s X-band station, 1640 has just changed format. It had been Fox sports talk, but who needs that with Chisholm Trail`s other station KCRC 1390 also sportstalk with ESPN?? Well, we ``needed`` that for several years. But this church-on-every-streetcorner town has an even greater ``need`` ---
First noticed April 6 as I tuned by at 0618 UT playing country gospel music! 0621 slogan thrice as ``solid gospel music``, and ``The new Faith 1640``. Are the calls still KFXY?
Yes, next check at 1557 UT again slogan ``The new Faith 1640``, and 1559 legal ID as ``KFXY, Enid-Oklahoma City, bringing you the best, a better variety of southern gospel music, the new Faith 1640``.
1600 into SRN News, which consists of two minutes of seemingly secular world news, a minute of religious promotion, and the remaining two minutes of the ``news`` with a pro-Christian, anti-Moslem slant.
1605 back to gospel music. Thus KFXY has switched from one totally useless format to another, as far as I am concerned. Now that I have got the word out, back to ignoring 1640.
As a reminder, this station is one of few on the X-band with a direxional antenna, same day and night, NNW/SSE from a site a few miles east of Hennessey, so it gets into city of license OK and also into Oklahoma City, 10 kW day and 1 kW night, --- but makes it difficult to DX in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, and also in much of North America, off the sides of the beam (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 11970, new frequency for VOA Spanish, April 5 at 2350 with report about controversy over some musical event in Shanghai, // and synchronized with 9885 so suspect it is Greenville. Have not found it on any schedule yet, apparently a last-minute change for listed 11625; also // heavily jammed 5890 but no jamming audible on 11970 yet. Poor signal as propagation is pitiful today with high K-indices and G3-level geomag storms (see CANADA).
Wolfgang Büschel had heard something in Spanish here a few days ago, April 1 after 0000, which would be the Tue-Sat A Fondo program.
Yes, at 0015 check April 6, nothing on 11625, but 11970 // 9885 // 5890 with A Fondo, and no jamming audible on any of them now, unlike // 6030 R. Martí with same program this hour (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WWRB, 5050, recently expanded to all-night operation, was always running Biblical dramatizations in English when I tuned across it, but at 0428 April 6 in Spanish instead with programming called ``Con la Biblia Abierta`` which may be from the same source. Tnx to an inquiry from José Elías Díaz Gómez, Venezuela, who had just heard an unID, something in Spanish IDing as Radio Mundial.
They plugged website http://www.conlabibliaabierta.com which has an uninformative Radiodifusión link with nothing about WWRB, but mentions 1700 and 1500 kHz in South Florida and Cuba, including a program called Radio Mundial.
WWRB hasn`t updated its own program schedule for ages, nothing about this or anything past ET midnight at
http://www.wwrb.org/schedule/global_2/combined.pdf
Did not recheck until 0601 when 5050 was back in English (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. High-latitude paths missing due to high K-indices, leaving southerly signals at good or better levels than usual, April 6 at 0614, WRMI 9955, R. Prague via WRN, in English with Science Journal, appropriately about robots, the very concept of which originated in Czechia with Karel Chapek`s R.U.R. SF story of the early twenties.
From across the lake, WYFR was also extremely strong on 31m, 9715, 9680, 9355 and new 9385 ex-9340.
Nearby signals above 5 MHz which usually hold up well thru the nightmiddle, WTWW 5755, WWCR 5890 and 5935 were quite weak; WWCR 4840 strong enough but less signal than usual; and the lower ones loud and unaffected, WWCR 3215 and WWRB 3185 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
