** AUSTRALIA. HCJB coming in quite well April 1 on both 19m frequencies: 15340 at 1328 in S Asian language, atop 15341 Morocco het; 1329 announcer kept mixing in English phrases such as ``brand new program``, ``host with the most``, ``thanks for all the e-mails``, ``so without wasting any more time, let`s get on with the show``, and played hymn ``What a Friend We Have in Jesus``.
Schedule at
http://www.hcjb.org.au/docs/A10_Schedule_HCJB_Australia_20100328-20101030.pdf
shows it`s supposed to transition at 1330 from Bhojpuri on Thursdays to Hindi daily. By 1402, the het from Morocco is much worse, with its undermodulated Arabic.
15400 Chinese service at 1328 had an English ID, back to Chinese.
If these are coming long-path, the route is across the Indian Ocean, over Cape Town, up the Atlantic skirting the NE coast of Brasil, entering N America between Savannah and Jacksonville. If short-path, across Midway Island, north of Berkeley (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** DJIBOUTI [non]. 15165, checking whether clandestine La Voix de Djibouti remains on B-09 frequency in A-10, Thursdays only – yes, April 1 carrier on a few seconds before 1530 and modulation a few sex after with instrumental anthem, 1531 HOA song, 1532 into talk unseeming French. Poor signal compared to the last time I heard it a few weeks ago, and traces of long-path echo. Recheck at 1615, even weaker and more echoey, with much greater ACI from BBC Russian 15170. Could not tell if it had switched to French by now like last time.
I still think a W European site is likely rather than South Africa as hypothesized by Wendel Craighead, who among others has got an e-QSL never revealing the true site. The echo would be more likely if we are getting back- and front-beams from Europe rather than South Africa which would aim in a very different direxion, roughly sideways from us, but this is all very hypothetical (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. 9526-, VOI English, April 1 at 1337 with fair modulation, accented YL talking about science and technology, with music background; no adjacent-channel QRM (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ROMANIA. RRI putting in several good to very good signals on 19m, none of them designated for NAm, April 1:
15195, at 1349 with pop music. This is Galbeni, 285 degrees to Europe at 12-14 in Romanian.
15140, at 1355 in Russian but giveaway Romanian folk music, mentioned Brasov. Tiganeshti at 52 degrees, 1330-1400 only, so off in time for Oman in English, inaudible as usual.
15160, at 1357 with RRI IS, briefly // 15140 until latter 1358*. Then 15160 at 1400 opening in Romanian-accented Arabic, ID ``Sawt al-Romania``, mentioning all the satellites, WRN, and also heard on // 15490. 15160 is 245 degrees from Galbeni at 14-15, while 15490 is 142 degrees from Tiganeshti.
What about English? There isn`t any from RRI, anywhere between 12 and 17 UT (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN [non]. The co-channel QRM to REE via COSTA RICA, 15170, is no longer Romania, but BBC Russian, scheduled 1300-1730 via Woofferton. The latter was atop REE at 1349 April 1 discussing Poland and imposing a SAH of 3 Hz (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TURKEY. I listened to the final Live from Turkey, Tuesday edition on 1-day-on-demand webcast. Seref Isler seemed to be saying goodbye, as apparently others will be doing the remaining Thursday edition. This is due to the current staffing situation, as Voice of Turkey needs an extra person on duty for that program, and there are higher priorities, such as doing a daily newscast in English which is loaded on Turkish airlines. He also said that because of this he did not have time to do a new Letterbox program for this Wednesday`s broadcasts, so would repeat one from 3(?) weeks ago.
I then listened to the SW broadcast on 9830, Wednesday March 31 at 2227, and it indeed sounded like an old Letterbox, until music at 2338. The trouble is, on DX Corner a few days before, he also said that feature programs on the 2200 UT broadcast would now be for the next UT day, since 2200 is after local midnight (and also the 0300 broadcast, instead of being the last repeat of the previous UT day). That should have put Letterbox on the 2200 UT Tuesday transmission, instead of Wednesday. Maybe this does not kick in until next week, or are they still confused or trying to decide what to do?
During this period, 9830 had some strange fading and noises, but did not sound like the usual RTTY interference.
13635, April 1 at 1248, good with Turkish music, a sad-sounding song. On his last LFT, Seref remarked that he could not think of any Turkish songs which were happy ones; sad songs, such as one he played about a jilted lover, are the norm. 13635 cut off at 1259 after a brief Turkish announcement. It`s scheduled 06-13, 500 kW, 310 degrees from Emirler to western Europe but also USward.
Meanwhile, 15450 in English was somewhat weaker, during the remaining Live from Turkey show on Thursdays, not hosted by Seref. The other guy was reading poetry (Turkish translated to English, I assume) at 1320 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [and non]. 9479 is the frequency where WTWW has shifted its daytime frequency 9480 as of March 31, at least temporarily.
George McClintock tells me the FCC has OK`d it. The reason is an unexpected interference problem very near the transmitter site. The school system of Smith County has a remote receiver on a mountaintop which happens to use 151.680 MHz, and the sixteenth [!] harmonic of WTWW from 9.480 has been interfering with their communication to school buses, altho it is not a serious safety issue. He has been trying to deal with this for two weeks, which may account for a lot of time off the air from 9480.
WTWW`s harmonic is properly more than 80 dB suppressed, but in this circumstance it is not enough. Until a new more powerful and extremely expensive harmonic filter to 90 dB can be obtained and installed, by shifting to 9.479, WTWW moves the harmonic far enough off, to 151.664 MHz.
Unfortunately, altho the local problem has been solved, WTWW now faces heterodynes from stations still on 9480, such as CRI via Albania at 1800-2000 in French, which must be a co-channel QRM problem anyway in eastern North America and Europe. How did that get past HFCC?
WTWW is so strong here, that CRI was no problem when we checked before 2000, tho it made a big het on George`s receiver a few miles away in the skip zone. Voice of Russia might also be using 9480 after that time, and China at other times. Of course, WTWW could seek a completely different frequency, but he hates to give up 9480 which had been inherited from KAIJ and properly coördinated.
Also, Radio Netherlands via Philippines in Indonesian at 22-23 on 9475 made a noticeable 4-kHz het with WTWW, both here and in the Tennessee skip zone. George says he could also shift to 9481 if that would be more advantageous. Casual listeners tuning to 9480 may not even notice the change. WTWW was still on 9479 at 1331 check April 1, no foolin`, making R. Australia 9475 that much more difficult.
Meanwhile, Pastor Pete Peters continues to be the only programming on WTWW. George says he has been inundated with hundreds of postal reception reports to an address on FCC records, even tho he has not solicited them. Many of them enclose $1 return postage. He does not have the time or staff to deal with them all. However, a new QSL card is on the way to the printer.
Many of the reports come from Japan. George theorizes that Peters` message of racial purity appeals to the Asians, even tho PPP is from a white-Christian perspective. I question whether many Japanese DXers really appreciate what PPP is saying in English; rather just are after a QSL from a new station. Also the mail from Europe has been ``staggering``. Of course, PPP surely appeals to neo-Nazis and cowboy fans as well (gh`s comment). (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 11550, large S9+25 open carrier at 1335 April 1; must be WEWN, but where`s the Spanish modulation? Other frequency 12050 is running normally. Then at 1337, 11550 with WEWN ID, and joining same programming in progress (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 17585, which bore a very strong VOA English via Greenville a few days before, had only a very weak unID signal at 1406 April 1. Nothing else scheduled, so presumably still VOA, maybe not Greenville if they have switched site already; or just not propagating (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 15106, weak het against 15105, BBC Hausa via Ascension, April 1 at 1354 and still at 1359. Most likely 15105 station to be off-frequency is PBC Pakistan, scheduled from 1330 in Urdu (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
Schedule at
http://www.hcjb.org.au/docs/A10_Schedule_HCJB_Australia_20100328-20101030.pdf
shows it`s supposed to transition at 1330 from Bhojpuri on Thursdays to Hindi daily. By 1402, the het from Morocco is much worse, with its undermodulated Arabic.
15400 Chinese service at 1328 had an English ID, back to Chinese.
If these are coming long-path, the route is across the Indian Ocean, over Cape Town, up the Atlantic skirting the NE coast of Brasil, entering N America between Savannah and Jacksonville. If short-path, across Midway Island, north of Berkeley (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** DJIBOUTI [non]. 15165, checking whether clandestine La Voix de Djibouti remains on B-09 frequency in A-10, Thursdays only – yes, April 1 carrier on a few seconds before 1530 and modulation a few sex after with instrumental anthem, 1531 HOA song, 1532 into talk unseeming French. Poor signal compared to the last time I heard it a few weeks ago, and traces of long-path echo. Recheck at 1615, even weaker and more echoey, with much greater ACI from BBC Russian 15170. Could not tell if it had switched to French by now like last time.
I still think a W European site is likely rather than South Africa as hypothesized by Wendel Craighead, who among others has got an e-QSL never revealing the true site. The echo would be more likely if we are getting back- and front-beams from Europe rather than South Africa which would aim in a very different direxion, roughly sideways from us, but this is all very hypothetical (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. 9526-, VOI English, April 1 at 1337 with fair modulation, accented YL talking about science and technology, with music background; no adjacent-channel QRM (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ROMANIA. RRI putting in several good to very good signals on 19m, none of them designated for NAm, April 1:
15195, at 1349 with pop music. This is Galbeni, 285 degrees to Europe at 12-14 in Romanian.
15140, at 1355 in Russian but giveaway Romanian folk music, mentioned Brasov. Tiganeshti at 52 degrees, 1330-1400 only, so off in time for Oman in English, inaudible as usual.
15160, at 1357 with RRI IS, briefly // 15140 until latter 1358*. Then 15160 at 1400 opening in Romanian-accented Arabic, ID ``Sawt al-Romania``, mentioning all the satellites, WRN, and also heard on // 15490. 15160 is 245 degrees from Galbeni at 14-15, while 15490 is 142 degrees from Tiganeshti.
What about English? There isn`t any from RRI, anywhere between 12 and 17 UT (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN [non]. The co-channel QRM to REE via COSTA RICA, 15170, is no longer Romania, but BBC Russian, scheduled 1300-1730 via Woofferton. The latter was atop REE at 1349 April 1 discussing Poland and imposing a SAH of 3 Hz (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TURKEY. I listened to the final Live from Turkey, Tuesday edition on 1-day-on-demand webcast. Seref Isler seemed to be saying goodbye, as apparently others will be doing the remaining Thursday edition. This is due to the current staffing situation, as Voice of Turkey needs an extra person on duty for that program, and there are higher priorities, such as doing a daily newscast in English which is loaded on Turkish airlines. He also said that because of this he did not have time to do a new Letterbox program for this Wednesday`s broadcasts, so would repeat one from 3(?) weeks ago.
I then listened to the SW broadcast on 9830, Wednesday March 31 at 2227, and it indeed sounded like an old Letterbox, until music at 2338. The trouble is, on DX Corner a few days before, he also said that feature programs on the 2200 UT broadcast would now be for the next UT day, since 2200 is after local midnight (and also the 0300 broadcast, instead of being the last repeat of the previous UT day). That should have put Letterbox on the 2200 UT Tuesday transmission, instead of Wednesday. Maybe this does not kick in until next week, or are they still confused or trying to decide what to do?
During this period, 9830 had some strange fading and noises, but did not sound like the usual RTTY interference.
13635, April 1 at 1248, good with Turkish music, a sad-sounding song. On his last LFT, Seref remarked that he could not think of any Turkish songs which were happy ones; sad songs, such as one he played about a jilted lover, are the norm. 13635 cut off at 1259 after a brief Turkish announcement. It`s scheduled 06-13, 500 kW, 310 degrees from Emirler to western Europe but also USward.
Meanwhile, 15450 in English was somewhat weaker, during the remaining Live from Turkey show on Thursdays, not hosted by Seref. The other guy was reading poetry (Turkish translated to English, I assume) at 1320 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [and non]. 9479 is the frequency where WTWW has shifted its daytime frequency 9480 as of March 31, at least temporarily.
George McClintock tells me the FCC has OK`d it. The reason is an unexpected interference problem very near the transmitter site. The school system of Smith County has a remote receiver on a mountaintop which happens to use 151.680 MHz, and the sixteenth [!] harmonic of WTWW from 9.480 has been interfering with their communication to school buses, altho it is not a serious safety issue. He has been trying to deal with this for two weeks, which may account for a lot of time off the air from 9480.
WTWW`s harmonic is properly more than 80 dB suppressed, but in this circumstance it is not enough. Until a new more powerful and extremely expensive harmonic filter to 90 dB can be obtained and installed, by shifting to 9.479, WTWW moves the harmonic far enough off, to 151.664 MHz.
Unfortunately, altho the local problem has been solved, WTWW now faces heterodynes from stations still on 9480, such as CRI via Albania at 1800-2000 in French, which must be a co-channel QRM problem anyway in eastern North America and Europe. How did that get past HFCC?
WTWW is so strong here, that CRI was no problem when we checked before 2000, tho it made a big het on George`s receiver a few miles away in the skip zone. Voice of Russia might also be using 9480 after that time, and China at other times. Of course, WTWW could seek a completely different frequency, but he hates to give up 9480 which had been inherited from KAIJ and properly coördinated.
Also, Radio Netherlands via Philippines in Indonesian at 22-23 on 9475 made a noticeable 4-kHz het with WTWW, both here and in the Tennessee skip zone. George says he could also shift to 9481 if that would be more advantageous. Casual listeners tuning to 9480 may not even notice the change. WTWW was still on 9479 at 1331 check April 1, no foolin`, making R. Australia 9475 that much more difficult.
Meanwhile, Pastor Pete Peters continues to be the only programming on WTWW. George says he has been inundated with hundreds of postal reception reports to an address on FCC records, even tho he has not solicited them. Many of them enclose $1 return postage. He does not have the time or staff to deal with them all. However, a new QSL card is on the way to the printer.
Many of the reports come from Japan. George theorizes that Peters` message of racial purity appeals to the Asians, even tho PPP is from a white-Christian perspective. I question whether many Japanese DXers really appreciate what PPP is saying in English; rather just are after a QSL from a new station. Also the mail from Europe has been ``staggering``. Of course, PPP surely appeals to neo-Nazis and cowboy fans as well (gh`s comment). (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 11550, large S9+25 open carrier at 1335 April 1; must be WEWN, but where`s the Spanish modulation? Other frequency 12050 is running normally. Then at 1337, 11550 with WEWN ID, and joining same programming in progress (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 17585, which bore a very strong VOA English via Greenville a few days before, had only a very weak unID signal at 1406 April 1. Nothing else scheduled, so presumably still VOA, maybe not Greenville if they have switched site already; or just not propagating (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 15106, weak het against 15105, BBC Hausa via Ascension, April 1 at 1354 and still at 1359. Most likely 15105 station to be off-frequency is PBC Pakistan, scheduled from 1330 in Urdu (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###