** ANTARCTICA. Thursday May 6 from 1200 I sit on 15476 (or rather 15475 with BFO on), to detect exactly when LRA36 turns on its transmitter. There it goes, from *1203:21. Too weak to get any modulation now or later. Trouble is, when I do this, I miss Pomp & Circumstance from XEXQ (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake May 6:
14920, poor at 1334
13970, JBA at 1335
12960, good at 1335, and NOT // 14920 and 12600. (I have not been checking assiduously for non-// Firedraxe, but they occasionally happen, from a different playback of the 60-minute show, and this was obvious when confirming frequencies on two different receivers.)
12600, poor at 1337
10440, poor at 1339
9150, fair at 1342
None others found 8-18 MHz. A somewhat different set would have been in use during the previous hour or the following hour. E Asian reception was overall not very good this morning. Except:
11990, at 1402 May 6, CNR1 with VG signal, not echoey like jammer on // 11805. Why is it on 11990? VOA in Chinese, of course! Aoki says via Novosibirsk, RUSSIA at 13-15; there was no trace of it audible here underneath the jamming by the wicked control-freak ChiCom.
SWPC: ``Solar-terrestrial indices for 05 May follow.
Solar flux 83 and mid-latitude A-index 6.
The mid-latitude K-index at 1500 UTC on 06 May was 2 (15 nT).
Space weather for the past 24 hours has been minor.
Radio blackouts reaching the R1 level occurred.
No space weather storms are expected for the next 24 hours.``
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA [and non]. May 6 at 1406 I notice that both RHC 22m frequencies, tho quite strong, have co-channel QRM. 13680 has it worse, something in Russian, i.e. R. Liberty via Rampisham, UK, at 62 degrees during this hour only. On 13780 it`s Deutsche Welle in German via Woofferton, UK, at 107 degrees also overlapping RHC this hour only.
As an outlaw nation, Cuban usage is not in HFCC, so the RL and DW frequency managers may not have even considered it; tho in their own targets RHC may be no problem, unlike vice versa. In which case: serves the Cuban commies right for jamming VOA and other US broadcasts deliberately rather than accidentally (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDIA. 9690, AIR GOS so weak I could barely hear the hum, at *1330 May 6, but sufficient to confirm in correct language English for the third day in a row (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. 9526-, VOI has been consistently here, like 9525.9v, rather than 9524.9v, for several weeks; yet I keep seeing reports and listings of it as ``9525``! There IS a difference, especially when something hets from real 9525. May 6 at 1300 English has already started, good signal, not too much hum, and sufficient modulation most of the time tho occasionally drops down; wiggle that patchcord!
Someone was wondering about VOI programming, day by day. It seems to me that the same magazine segments air every day, so I made note of them today. News, Editorial, This Day in History, Focus, News in Brief, Indonesian Wonders, Miscellany, Music Corner. Exact times are variable, so the music pads out the hour as necessary.
Most or all of these also happen on Tuesdays interspersed with conversations about Banjarmasin stuff, on the ``Exotic Indonesia`` excursions. The intro to Miscellany lists a number of specific subjects eligible for inclusion, which I should also copy down sometime (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. 6045, XEXQ-OC, tune-in at 1206 May 6, already in opening talk segment, 1212 starting classical music, but outfading. Very weak as usual (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** OKLAHOMA. 1580, KOKB Blackwell, after a few days of open carrier whenever checked, afternoon of May 5 they were modulating with sports talk again, and may have resumed as early as May 4. I bet it happens again and again as no one is really paying attention. And/or, it`s degenerated into an unpersonned relay, and breakdowns have to wait for some contract engineer to get around to visiting Blackwell from Perry, Stillwater, or wherever based, to hit the reset button (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** POLAND [non]. 11675, PRES via AUSTRIA, Thursday May 6 at 1245 I can just barely make out the intonations of Swavek Chefs, presumably during ``Multi-Touch``, the combined DX/media/mailbag. At least we know this English hour is still on the air, and I suppose now summerly inbooming no further than the British Isles. Or how is it along east coast NAm? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [non]. 9945, Thursday May 6 at 1359 I hear Yankee Doodle Dandy, i.e. the VOA sign-on routine. Or is it sign-off? From 1400 dead air, but almost a semi-minute later starts Indonesian service. It`s really bilingual with the announcer mixing in English, for the ``Direct Connexion`` pop music show. This transmission is Thu-Fri-Sat only, via Tinang, PHILIPPINES, per Aoki. Signal only fair (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WWCR`s comeback: After hearing 13845 only, the morning of May 5, next check at 2130 finds 9350, 9980 and 13845 all on, but no 7465. So three of the four transmitters have resumed.
May 6 at 0526, 4840 is on, and 5890 is // 5935 with PMS; before the flood, 5890 had just changed to carrying Brother Scare at that time. 3215 still missing, that is WWCR-1.
Next check at 1408, 9980 inbooming, 13845 audible but weak, 15825 presumed on but not propagating; but 7490 is missing, i.e. WWCR-2, altho it was confirmed on earlier, via 9350 afternoon and 5935 at night.
It may well be that only one particular transmitter is out of use, but the others can be switched around to different antennas and program feeds. So it`s more correct to think of WWCR-1, 2, 3 and 4 being program streams and antennas rather than individual transmitter units. In fact early on, designations 1 and 2 were interchanged. And of course last month, program streams per transmitter were reconfigured.
Then I find a new message on the WWCR homepage as of May 6, which finally explains the situation:
``Wednesday, May 05, 2010 Flood Update Release #1
WWCR, and much of Nashville along the Cumberland River, remain in a flood state as of Wednesday, May 5 at 6.00pm (2300 UT). The Cumberland is at 48.2 feet and receding. Flood depth is 40 feet. Weather analysts predict that the Cumberland will be below flood level by Thursday, May 6 at 10.00pm (0300 UT). This is not guaranteed, as this date has been rolled back during the week.
While WWCR's transmitters and buildings were spared the floodwaters, the transmitter field for WWCR's four transmitters and its medium wave sister station WNQM flooded to a level estimated between 15 and 20 feet depth. The waters appear to be receding, but there is still a tremendous amount of floodwaters in the transmitter field.
On Wednesday afternoon, CT, Engineer Phil Patton was able to bring up transmitters 2, 3 and 4. This is an encouraging outcome, and could lead to more on air time soon, but WWCR is unable to determine at this time how quickly all transmitters will be brought on air. More details will be released as new information is determined.
The flooding brings troubles to many Middle Tennessee and Nashville residents, as well as the noted troubles to WWCR. At least two WWCR employees are suffering loss, with home flooding, automobiles being submerged in water to the windshield and being stranded, separated from family and loved ones. WWCR requests the prayers and thoughts of both broadcasters and listeners as WWCR works its way through this major event and returns to the air, as well as for the WWCR employees (and all of Middle Tennessee residents) through this time of loss.
WWCR is still without telephone and internet service. WWCR has been included in the "disaster area" by AT&T and offers no timeline for restored services.``
A lot of airtime has been lost which can never be made up, but don`t be surprised if, even back on the air, some WORLD OF RADIO times are replaced by make-goods of other programs. In fact, if there is still no internet or phone service, WOR 1511 will not make it to WWCR.
I guess they still have satellite downlinking; I wonder if they could pull it off WRN in a pinch? But not until Saturday at 12:30 pm CT; or Sunday 3:30 am, 12:30 pm.
To be safe, I suggest people make a point of catching the UT Friday 0330 WOR airing via WWRB 3185, or try the numerous other opportunities at http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
** CHINA. Firedrake May 6:
14920, poor at 1334
13970, JBA at 1335
12960, good at 1335, and NOT // 14920 and 12600. (I have not been checking assiduously for non-// Firedraxe, but they occasionally happen, from a different playback of the 60-minute show, and this was obvious when confirming frequencies on two different receivers.)
12600, poor at 1337
10440, poor at 1339
9150, fair at 1342
None others found 8-18 MHz. A somewhat different set would have been in use during the previous hour or the following hour. E Asian reception was overall not very good this morning. Except:
11990, at 1402 May 6, CNR1 with VG signal, not echoey like jammer on // 11805. Why is it on 11990? VOA in Chinese, of course! Aoki says via Novosibirsk, RUSSIA at 13-15; there was no trace of it audible here underneath the jamming by the wicked control-freak ChiCom.
SWPC: ``Solar-terrestrial indices for 05 May follow.
Solar flux 83 and mid-latitude A-index 6.
The mid-latitude K-index at 1500 UTC on 06 May was 2 (15 nT).
Space weather for the past 24 hours has been minor.
Radio blackouts reaching the R1 level occurred.
No space weather storms are expected for the next 24 hours.``
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA [and non]. May 6 at 1406 I notice that both RHC 22m frequencies, tho quite strong, have co-channel QRM. 13680 has it worse, something in Russian, i.e. R. Liberty via Rampisham, UK, at 62 degrees during this hour only. On 13780 it`s Deutsche Welle in German via Woofferton, UK, at 107 degrees also overlapping RHC this hour only.
As an outlaw nation, Cuban usage is not in HFCC, so the RL and DW frequency managers may not have even considered it; tho in their own targets RHC may be no problem, unlike vice versa. In which case: serves the Cuban commies right for jamming VOA and other US broadcasts deliberately rather than accidentally (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDIA. 9690, AIR GOS so weak I could barely hear the hum, at *1330 May 6, but sufficient to confirm in correct language English for the third day in a row (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. 9526-, VOI has been consistently here, like 9525.9v, rather than 9524.9v, for several weeks; yet I keep seeing reports and listings of it as ``9525``! There IS a difference, especially when something hets from real 9525. May 6 at 1300 English has already started, good signal, not too much hum, and sufficient modulation most of the time tho occasionally drops down; wiggle that patchcord!
Someone was wondering about VOI programming, day by day. It seems to me that the same magazine segments air every day, so I made note of them today. News, Editorial, This Day in History, Focus, News in Brief, Indonesian Wonders, Miscellany, Music Corner. Exact times are variable, so the music pads out the hour as necessary.
Most or all of these also happen on Tuesdays interspersed with conversations about Banjarmasin stuff, on the ``Exotic Indonesia`` excursions. The intro to Miscellany lists a number of specific subjects eligible for inclusion, which I should also copy down sometime (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. 6045, XEXQ-OC, tune-in at 1206 May 6, already in opening talk segment, 1212 starting classical music, but outfading. Very weak as usual (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** OKLAHOMA. 1580, KOKB Blackwell, after a few days of open carrier whenever checked, afternoon of May 5 they were modulating with sports talk again, and may have resumed as early as May 4. I bet it happens again and again as no one is really paying attention. And/or, it`s degenerated into an unpersonned relay, and breakdowns have to wait for some contract engineer to get around to visiting Blackwell from Perry, Stillwater, or wherever based, to hit the reset button (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** POLAND [non]. 11675, PRES via AUSTRIA, Thursday May 6 at 1245 I can just barely make out the intonations of Swavek Chefs, presumably during ``Multi-Touch``, the combined DX/media/mailbag. At least we know this English hour is still on the air, and I suppose now summerly inbooming no further than the British Isles. Or how is it along east coast NAm? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [non]. 9945, Thursday May 6 at 1359 I hear Yankee Doodle Dandy, i.e. the VOA sign-on routine. Or is it sign-off? From 1400 dead air, but almost a semi-minute later starts Indonesian service. It`s really bilingual with the announcer mixing in English, for the ``Direct Connexion`` pop music show. This transmission is Thu-Fri-Sat only, via Tinang, PHILIPPINES, per Aoki. Signal only fair (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WWCR`s comeback: After hearing 13845 only, the morning of May 5, next check at 2130 finds 9350, 9980 and 13845 all on, but no 7465. So three of the four transmitters have resumed.
May 6 at 0526, 4840 is on, and 5890 is // 5935 with PMS; before the flood, 5890 had just changed to carrying Brother Scare at that time. 3215 still missing, that is WWCR-1.
Next check at 1408, 9980 inbooming, 13845 audible but weak, 15825 presumed on but not propagating; but 7490 is missing, i.e. WWCR-2, altho it was confirmed on earlier, via 9350 afternoon and 5935 at night.
It may well be that only one particular transmitter is out of use, but the others can be switched around to different antennas and program feeds. So it`s more correct to think of WWCR-1, 2, 3 and 4 being program streams and antennas rather than individual transmitter units. In fact early on, designations 1 and 2 were interchanged. And of course last month, program streams per transmitter were reconfigured.
Then I find a new message on the WWCR homepage as of May 6, which finally explains the situation:
``Wednesday, May 05, 2010 Flood Update Release #1
WWCR, and much of Nashville along the Cumberland River, remain in a flood state as of Wednesday, May 5 at 6.00pm (2300 UT). The Cumberland is at 48.2 feet and receding. Flood depth is 40 feet. Weather analysts predict that the Cumberland will be below flood level by Thursday, May 6 at 10.00pm (0300 UT). This is not guaranteed, as this date has been rolled back during the week.
While WWCR's transmitters and buildings were spared the floodwaters, the transmitter field for WWCR's four transmitters and its medium wave sister station WNQM flooded to a level estimated between 15 and 20 feet depth. The waters appear to be receding, but there is still a tremendous amount of floodwaters in the transmitter field.
On Wednesday afternoon, CT, Engineer Phil Patton was able to bring up transmitters 2, 3 and 4. This is an encouraging outcome, and could lead to more on air time soon, but WWCR is unable to determine at this time how quickly all transmitters will be brought on air. More details will be released as new information is determined.
The flooding brings troubles to many Middle Tennessee and Nashville residents, as well as the noted troubles to WWCR. At least two WWCR employees are suffering loss, with home flooding, automobiles being submerged in water to the windshield and being stranded, separated from family and loved ones. WWCR requests the prayers and thoughts of both broadcasters and listeners as WWCR works its way through this major event and returns to the air, as well as for the WWCR employees (and all of Middle Tennessee residents) through this time of loss.
WWCR is still without telephone and internet service. WWCR has been included in the "disaster area" by AT&T and offers no timeline for restored services.``
A lot of airtime has been lost which can never be made up, but don`t be surprised if, even back on the air, some WORLD OF RADIO times are replaced by make-goods of other programs. In fact, if there is still no internet or phone service, WOR 1511 will not make it to WWCR.
I guess they still have satellite downlinking; I wonder if they could pull it off WRN in a pinch? But not until Saturday at 12:30 pm CT; or Sunday 3:30 am, 12:30 pm.
To be safe, I suggest people make a point of catching the UT Friday 0330 WOR airing via WWRB 3185, or try the numerous other opportunities at http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
