** ANTARCTICA. 15476 check, May 11 at 1308 finds not even a carrier here tho one detectable from Woofferton 15480. Is LRA36 off? Maybe at this hour but not at 1352, when a carrier is now JBA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ASCENSION. 21630, May 11 at 1359 the OSOB is a weak one in unID African language, no break at 1400. That often means it`s Hausa, and in fact such is listed from BBC at 1345-1415 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHAD. 6165 confirmed active from RNT, May 11 at 0528 just after RNW Bonaire closed, poor in French with phone number, YL atop SAH maybe Croatia. 0530 drumming for most of a minute, then OM says ``Ici N`djamena . . . bonjour``. Carlos Gonçalves is still trying to get a definite ID on the 4900 in the evenings, but is pretty sure it`s not Chadian (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. 9526-, May 11 at 1300 opening English on Tuesday as Exotic Indonesia, immediately conversation between Jakarta studio YL and the OM at RRI Banjarmasin plugging simulcast on his FM station. Good signal but too much hum.
I keep seeing some reports of this as ``9525``, which is possible from their other transmitter, axually more like 9524.9, but I always hear it just below 9526, so suspect people are not carefully checking the frequency (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. 6045, May 11 did not tune in until 1228 when XEXQ was holding up nicely, perhaps due to slightly lower noise level than usual, and slightly better propagation. Violin and piano classical music registering S9+12, soon morphing into Romanian-type folk music with lots of fiddling; 1235 fading down some, 1304 JBA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO [and non?]. After hearing WWCR inbooming on 15825 the afternoon of May 11, I check for sporadic E opening extending much higher, and now there is one: After 2000 UT, Spanish stations on channel 2, and signs of video on channel 3. Very much in and out, and cannot be sure whether each detail noted comes from same or different stations. When the audio breaks thru, the modulation level is louder than we used to get from US analog stations with a lesser audio/video power ratio.
At 2021 UT on 2, bug in lower right in large light letters as DQTC, probably a program name.
At 2022, think I see VENEZUELA in large light letters upper center screen; also almost zero-beat video CCI. This of course does not mean I was really getting double hop from YV land, tho as last summer`s US-analog-free DX season showed, it happens quite a lot.
A lot of shows produced in Venezuela are seen elsewhere in Latin America; or used to be, especially novelas. Is El Hugazo now forcing them to mix in politically socialist under- or overtones, which would make them less attractive abroad?
At 2045 on 2, ad for ``Buenas Noches, Mamá``, a play or film, 15 de mayo at Teatro de Los Héroes. While every country has heroes, the Mexicans are particularly fond of the word for naming things. Often is short for ``Niños Héroes``.
2048 on 2, live variety show mentions Azteca, which would surely not be Venezuelan. Has different bugs in UR and LR but can`t make them out. Clip of béisbol game, or CCI? Soon replaced by YL anchor.
Opening drops off by 2110 UT. 2130 time to employ same antenna for BBC World News via OETA-OKLA 13.2: starting with Gordon Brown resigns, David Cameron overtakes as PM. For a `world` service, BBCWN seems rather obsessed with British news!
Time to Google a bit. DQTC has a Mexican connexion, some kind of fan site on Twitter mentioning TV Azteca. But what does it stand for? Could be a way of spelling ``Decútese`` --- except there is no such verb decutar, per my dixionary and Google. Also on Facebook, maybe Myspace.
On BN,M and TdlH, that`s a road show, appearing May 18 at a theatre by that name in Chihuahua city, nowhere on May 15, per http://buenasnochesmama.com/gira.html so maybe I misread the date.
There of course is a channel 2 in Ciudad de Chihuahua, XHCH, a 100 kW independent outlet of TV Azteca, which I have DXed several times before, so this is all falling into place. 6m Es map also shows activity in this area (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** OKLAHOMA. 1580, KOKB Blackwell, again nothing but an unmodulated carrier, May 11 at 1506 UT. Next check at 1811 it`s distorted with overmodulation! Local sports talk show with Stillwater ad, phone number ending in -1020 matching the originating station KOKP Perry, but ID in passing as `TV 31-1`, so apparently it is simulcast or really originating from the LPTV in Stillwater. 31-1 implies it is now DTV, but W9WI only has this as analog in the channel 31 list:
Stillwater KWEM-LP 9.000 0.00 NdH 36-6-31.00N 97-11-46.00W TX-LIC A1
Nor is there any equivalent listing for same on any other channel as DT. If it really is now DTV, could it be that they are just running the radio station audio on one of their virtual channels? This idea seems to be spreading among LP DTVs (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SAUDI ARABIA [and non]. 15170 has been a regular summer source for several seasons of soporific qur`aning in our late evenings, and it`s again heard May 11 at 0520; trouble is, now mixed with a fluttery Chinese YL.
Yes, per Aoki, BSKSA HQS is on 15170 at 0300-0555, while CRI is on 15170 at 0400 in Mandarin via Kashgar, EAST TURKISTAN, and 0500-0600 in Cantonese by Jinhua-Youbu site 831, which is at 59 degrees, favorable for NAm tho not intended to reach this far. Anyway, HQS should be clear at 03-04 (Glenn Hauser, OK DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WWCR check May 11: at 1912, 15825 is inbooming, so sporadic E is in progress, and it reaches VHF: see MEXICO. 9980 still absent but looks like it will be back soon. On May 11 an update has appeared on WWCR homepage backdated:
``10 May, 2010- Transmitter #1 is back on the air. Transmitter #1 has a matching stub connected to its rhombic antenna; the only one of WWCR's antennas to have one. It was submerged in floodwaters but did not present problems initially when transmitter #1 was brought back up. On Saturday, Phil Patton saw smoke rising from the matching stub. Remarkably, Phil rebuilt it from varied parts already on the property. Transmitter #1 and the matching stub seem to be content with the rebuild and functioning as normal. WWCR's transmitter #4 remains off-air. Parts needed to bring it back on-air should arrive on Tuesday morning.``
I must say I had not noticed any absence of #1 in last few days, i.e. 15825/7465/3215/9985 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 15385, KJES, May 11 at 1920 with singing, but overridden here by one of my local VHF FM 2-way images on the FRG-7; this one is almost continuous, and exactly on 15385; tsk2 (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
** ASCENSION. 21630, May 11 at 1359 the OSOB is a weak one in unID African language, no break at 1400. That often means it`s Hausa, and in fact such is listed from BBC at 1345-1415 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHAD. 6165 confirmed active from RNT, May 11 at 0528 just after RNW Bonaire closed, poor in French with phone number, YL atop SAH maybe Croatia. 0530 drumming for most of a minute, then OM says ``Ici N`djamena . . . bonjour``. Carlos Gonçalves is still trying to get a definite ID on the 4900 in the evenings, but is pretty sure it`s not Chadian (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. 9526-, May 11 at 1300 opening English on Tuesday as Exotic Indonesia, immediately conversation between Jakarta studio YL and the OM at RRI Banjarmasin plugging simulcast on his FM station. Good signal but too much hum.
I keep seeing some reports of this as ``9525``, which is possible from their other transmitter, axually more like 9524.9, but I always hear it just below 9526, so suspect people are not carefully checking the frequency (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. 6045, May 11 did not tune in until 1228 when XEXQ was holding up nicely, perhaps due to slightly lower noise level than usual, and slightly better propagation. Violin and piano classical music registering S9+12, soon morphing into Romanian-type folk music with lots of fiddling; 1235 fading down some, 1304 JBA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO [and non?]. After hearing WWCR inbooming on 15825 the afternoon of May 11, I check for sporadic E opening extending much higher, and now there is one: After 2000 UT, Spanish stations on channel 2, and signs of video on channel 3. Very much in and out, and cannot be sure whether each detail noted comes from same or different stations. When the audio breaks thru, the modulation level is louder than we used to get from US analog stations with a lesser audio/video power ratio.
At 2021 UT on 2, bug in lower right in large light letters as DQTC, probably a program name.
At 2022, think I see VENEZUELA in large light letters upper center screen; also almost zero-beat video CCI. This of course does not mean I was really getting double hop from YV land, tho as last summer`s US-analog-free DX season showed, it happens quite a lot.
A lot of shows produced in Venezuela are seen elsewhere in Latin America; or used to be, especially novelas. Is El Hugazo now forcing them to mix in politically socialist under- or overtones, which would make them less attractive abroad?
At 2045 on 2, ad for ``Buenas Noches, Mamá``, a play or film, 15 de mayo at Teatro de Los Héroes. While every country has heroes, the Mexicans are particularly fond of the word for naming things. Often is short for ``Niños Héroes``.
2048 on 2, live variety show mentions Azteca, which would surely not be Venezuelan. Has different bugs in UR and LR but can`t make them out. Clip of béisbol game, or CCI? Soon replaced by YL anchor.
Opening drops off by 2110 UT. 2130 time to employ same antenna for BBC World News via OETA-OKLA 13.2: starting with Gordon Brown resigns, David Cameron overtakes as PM. For a `world` service, BBCWN seems rather obsessed with British news!
Time to Google a bit. DQTC has a Mexican connexion, some kind of fan site on Twitter mentioning TV Azteca. But what does it stand for? Could be a way of spelling ``Decútese`` --- except there is no such verb decutar, per my dixionary and Google. Also on Facebook, maybe Myspace.
On BN,M and TdlH, that`s a road show, appearing May 18 at a theatre by that name in Chihuahua city, nowhere on May 15, per http://buenasnochesmama.com/gira.html so maybe I misread the date.
There of course is a channel 2 in Ciudad de Chihuahua, XHCH, a 100 kW independent outlet of TV Azteca, which I have DXed several times before, so this is all falling into place. 6m Es map also shows activity in this area (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** OKLAHOMA. 1580, KOKB Blackwell, again nothing but an unmodulated carrier, May 11 at 1506 UT. Next check at 1811 it`s distorted with overmodulation! Local sports talk show with Stillwater ad, phone number ending in -1020 matching the originating station KOKP Perry, but ID in passing as `TV 31-1`, so apparently it is simulcast or really originating from the LPTV in Stillwater. 31-1 implies it is now DTV, but W9WI only has this as analog in the channel 31 list:
Stillwater KWEM-LP 9.000 0.00 NdH 36-6-31.00N 97-11-46.00W TX-LIC A1
Nor is there any equivalent listing for same on any other channel as DT. If it really is now DTV, could it be that they are just running the radio station audio on one of their virtual channels? This idea seems to be spreading among LP DTVs (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SAUDI ARABIA [and non]. 15170 has been a regular summer source for several seasons of soporific qur`aning in our late evenings, and it`s again heard May 11 at 0520; trouble is, now mixed with a fluttery Chinese YL.
Yes, per Aoki, BSKSA HQS is on 15170 at 0300-0555, while CRI is on 15170 at 0400 in Mandarin via Kashgar, EAST TURKISTAN, and 0500-0600 in Cantonese by Jinhua-Youbu site 831, which is at 59 degrees, favorable for NAm tho not intended to reach this far. Anyway, HQS should be clear at 03-04 (Glenn Hauser, OK DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WWCR check May 11: at 1912, 15825 is inbooming, so sporadic E is in progress, and it reaches VHF: see MEXICO. 9980 still absent but looks like it will be back soon. On May 11 an update has appeared on WWCR homepage backdated:
``10 May, 2010- Transmitter #1 is back on the air. Transmitter #1 has a matching stub connected to its rhombic antenna; the only one of WWCR's antennas to have one. It was submerged in floodwaters but did not present problems initially when transmitter #1 was brought back up. On Saturday, Phil Patton saw smoke rising from the matching stub. Remarkably, Phil rebuilt it from varied parts already on the property. Transmitter #1 and the matching stub seem to be content with the rebuild and functioning as normal. WWCR's transmitter #4 remains off-air. Parts needed to bring it back on-air should arrive on Tuesday morning.``
I must say I had not noticed any absence of #1 in last few days, i.e. 15825/7465/3215/9985 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 15385, KJES, May 11 at 1920 with singing, but overridden here by one of my local VHF FM 2-way images on the FRG-7; this one is almost continuous, and exactly on 15385; tsk2 (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
