venerdì 11 giugno 2010

Glenn Hauser logs June 11, 2010

** ANTARCTICA. 15476, LRA36, not even a carrier detectable June 11 at 1343 or 1438 tho 15480 stations could be, Woofferton and Gavar respectively (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** BRAZIL. 11780, RNA, rather weak this time of day, June 11 at 1456 but talking about the World Cup; 1517 also back to play-by-play of second half of Mexico/RSA game, a Portuguese alternative to Spanish from COSTA RICA and CUBA [qq.vv.]. Broadcasting anything else would be unthinkable, and no doubt lots more to come from Brasília when reception is better (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHINA. Firedrake June 11:
nothing from 8 to 19 MHz except:
11100, very poor at 1339; gone at 1444
16100, good at 1347 // 11100; gone at 1439
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** COSTA RICA. 15170, REE relay with Copa Mundial live coverage in Castilian, not // 13740 Cuba [q.v.], of same opening game, México vs Sudáfrica, June 11 at 1452. At 1513 I noticed that this was NOT // REE direct from Spain on 17595, with normal programming, music! That`s certainly unusual. Maybe REE did not get the rights to broadcast it from Spain, just CR? I expect there will be lots more live coverage one way or another from REE.

What`s this continuous noise in the background, heard on all stations? First thought it was a siren, then more like an amplified beehive! Perhaps emanating from Tutu`s yellow and black striped stocking cap; just how cold is it in Jo`burg now, almost winter? Looks like he`s shivering and huddling. How do I know what he`s wearing instead of that glorious purple mitre? Because it`s also on ESPN.

BTW, tho ``RSA`` seems to have fallen out of favour as the short name of the host country, I see it still in use on scoreboards. Whatever became of ``Azania``, once expected to become the official name of the post-apartheid nation? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CUBA. 13740, blew away their scheduled CRI English relay at 14-16 June 11 to run R. Rebelde instead, live coverage in Spanish of the opening World Cup game from South Africa, 1447 June 11, Mexico vs RSA. Somewhat undermodulated but sufficient considering the huge signal. 1453 during half-time break, Rebelde asserted that it would broadcast ``todos los partidos``. Resumed at 1516 in time for Mexico to score.

Off the air at next check 1604, but would they have prolonged it if the game had run longer? Meanwhile I had checked all the other Cuban SW frequencies and this was the only one out of the ordinary instead of RHC or RNV.

During this world sequence, there are likely to be further special SW broadcasts from this and other soccer-mad countries, pre-empting regular programming and perhaps on special frequencies at special times. See also BRAZIL, COSTA RICA, GERMANY. Rich Cuff says the BBCWS was also carrying this game, in English altho did not notice it here (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also JAPAN

** EGYPT. 13580, June 11 at 1501 a bit of muezzining, then announcement in uncertain language, undermodulated. Only thing scheduled is Cairo`s Albanian service, also USward (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** GERMANY. 13780, June 11 at 1520 once Cuba is off, poor signal in German about World Cup, buzzing background, so must be live coverage here too; of course, the opening game is special, but we wonder how many of the other matches not involving Germany they will broadcast.
13780 is scheduled 06-10 and 14-18 via Woofferton, 18-20 via Sines.

Not that we care a bit about silly ballgames; just covering shortwave developments. However, this inevitably leads to lots of reporting about what else is going on in South Africa, which could be useful (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** INDONESIA. 9526-, VOI, fourth day in a row with good modulation! June 11 at 1322 starting Indonesian Wonders (or is it just Wonder?) segment, this time about some Ambon cake sold by 30 shops in faraway Medan, Sumatera, lite yellow with many flavours; 1334 recheck already starting Music Corner, so missed Miscellany. Ruined by ChiCom 9525.0 het from *1357:15 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** JAPAN [and non]. 11655, scheduled NHKWNRJ in Japanese via Sackville, Friday June 11 at 1407 playing Hank Williams, ``Jambalaya``, 1409 ``Your Cheatin` Heart``, 1412 ``Take These Chains from my Heart``, 1414 ``Honky Tonk Blues``. Suspected RCI was playing fill music again, having lost feed from Tokyo --- but no!

1416 Japanese YL back-announcement of these album cuts, and then several from John Denver: ``Country Roads``, ``City of New Orleans`` (which is about a train), 1424 ``Sunshine``; 1429 no announcement but switched to Willie Nelson, ``On the Road Again``, ``Blue Eyes Cryin` in the Rain``.

1434 YL Japanese announcement in that ``confidential`` tone they love to affect. FINALLY, at 1436 we get a singer in Japanese; 1445 ``Dance of the Hours`` by Ponchielli, on piano. (I must rethink my previous log of jazz album cuts during this time period as having been deliberate from NHK rather than fill music from Sackville/Montreal.)

I like NHK`s taste in music, probably a domestic service relay for bedtime Friday night. Serenaded my consumption of 21 just-picked apricots for breakfast, our first successful harvest in a few years as we finally evaded late freezes and had plenty of bee pollination. Yes, our `cots are smaller than the frankencots in stores, but much more tasty.

11730, June 11 at 1455 with jazz music atop one of RHC`s weaker signals; 1459 ``NHK Hoso desu`` ID, but too late to detect if it was // 11655 via Sackville which was already off; and 1500 opening RCI relay in Chinese, still atop Cuba.

Aoki axually shows R. Japan with a 5-minute transmission in Japanese at 1455-1500, same paramaters as the 1500-1558 RCI relay, 300 kW, 234 degrees from Ibaragi-Koga-Yamata. But Aoki misses Cuba completely on 11730 tho it has been on there for several months now. Another DXer recently discovered it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** LIBERIA. 4025-, no carrier from Star Radio detectable June 11 at 0531; this time T-storm QRN from SW OK (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MADAGASCAR [and non]. 13710 in French, discussion of Congo and then Central African Republic, something about a presidential term expiring, June 11 at 0540. It`s VOA via Talata, M-F 0530-0600.

Another French broadcast on 13840, June 11 at 0542 but they keep mentioning Japon, i.e. NHK also via Madagascar, daily 0530-0600. These two, plus others, want to split the audience. Not to mention RFI itself on 9790 at 04-08, also heard at this time (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** NEW ZEALAND. Ron Howard has been noticing that RNZI opened 6170 an hour late at 1400 on Fridays for two or three weeks, but not June 11: tune-in 1329 to honky-tonk piano music with bass, sounds like a girl group with old-time Hawaiian song. Must have started a minute or two early as keeps happening on RNZI with ``1330`` shows.

Soon program announced as ``Waiata``, which is about Maori music, so could not possibly have been Hawaiian. BTW, to be just right, put a macron over the a of Maori. If you can find one.

Glad Waiata is back on SW, one of my MONITORING REMINDERS CALENDAR recommendations,
http://www.worldofradio.com/calendar.html

But no playlists have been posted since 31 January at http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/waiata
6170 signal is descending into the noise level 2.5 hours after LSR; lucky to get what we can. No het detectable from DZ station (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** PERU. In previous report about 18057.9 harmonic of R. Victoria I cited the wrong frequency as fundamental, ``9719.3`` --- I meant to write 6019.3. Perhaps with some more sunspots we can get it also around 29160 --- a number of third harmonix of 9 MHz on 10m band were heard long ago. Perhaps more likely would be 30096.5 = 5 x 6019.3 since we know for sure the 6 MHz transmitter produces one odd harmonic (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SAIPAN. 11650, something too close for comfort to NHK relay 11655, June 11 at 1338 ballad, would be good except for Sackville splatter; sounds Russian, but Aoki lists as Kyrgyz during this quarter-hour daily from KFBS (and also Beijing in Esperanto during this hour; no sign of it). Would not be surprised if there was some Russian mixed in with the Kyrgyz, a post-Soviet tribute (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U K [non]. 15285, June 11 at 1344 ``Nessun Dorma`` aria concluding, probably Pavarotti, but faded out last syllable of ``Vincerò`` before it could resolve, unforgivable. BBCWS in Chinese, 13 degrees from Singapore, was axually atop the ChiCom CNR1 echo jamming, but turn up the jamming if this is how BBC treats us!

1345 into BBC Learning English, ``Life is a Journey`` topic. Explanations in English, not just Chinese, so must be for advanced students (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 11715, KJES increased modulation from JBM to fair level, June 11 at 1337 with song about Calvary, YL accompanied by guitar (or ukulele?) (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###