** ANTARCTICA [and non]. 15476, LRA36 check Friday Oct 1: at 1259 carrier about equal to 15480 Rampisham. Today conditions were much better from Turkey 15450 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** AUSTRALIA. 15415, Oct 1 at 0548 mentioning Commonwealth Games, and Australia, but not // RA Pacific service on 15240, 15160, 13690, 13630. 15415 much weaker than the others, as it`s the RA Asian service, which diverges Saturday afternoons, but this was Friday (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CANADA. 6070, checking remodulated CFRX: Oct 1 at 0533 hotel ad, but definitely undermodulated, without the punch it enjoyed for months. Also lite SAH with something, ELWA? 0603 undermodulated YL with news but now no CCI. Next check 1114 better modulation, 1143 still not up to par (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHAD. 6165, RNT, Oct 1 at 0528 African drumming, atop medium SAH which leads me to believe it is much closer to center channel than before; 0529 French announcements, TC for 6:30, talking about Nigéria, N`djamena, Abidjan. It`s blocked until 0527* by RNW Bonaire (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake Oct 1: nothing found 8-18 MHz, 1252-1258 UT except: 14700, imagination level maybe. CRI English, 17490 via Kashgar, EAST TURKISTAN was however making it well with Chinese lesson at 1257 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. 6042, weak cut numbers (10 letters substituting for digits) from spy station on A2, Oct 1 at 0535, also traces of RHC English, proving that these are coming from same RadioCuba site, as extremely strong numbers at this hour are heard every night on fundamental 5898, which leaps over RHC 5970 another 72 kHz up.
9865, Oct 1 at 1150, pulse jamming against nothing, then gone, probably spur from 9805 and/or 9955 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** EQUATORIAL GUINEA [non]. 6250, altho two nights earlier, caught RNGE on the air already at 0528, probably having overlapped NHK/Bonaire leapfrog also on 6250 until 0527*, missed checking Sept 30, and on Oct 1 there is no sign of it, just NHK cutting off at 0527, and nothing more at several chex thru 0556. Do they just turn on the SW transmitter when they feel like it; have persistent technical or power problems; or oversleep? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GUATEMALA. As advised by Dr. Madrid, R. Verdad has adjusted the ham transmitter they are temporarily using, to include a carrier; 4055, Oct 1 at 0512 now I can zero-beat a carrier, but not enough modulation to make much out of it; also suffers from intermittent ute QRM. Power was to have been doubled to 100 watts, but I am afraid reception is not twice as good. At 0554 playing country hymn in English, better reading S9+15, 0600 brief announcement and NA. 1116 had resumed, organ music and talk, also with carrier but poor (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. After surveying TP carriers Oct 1, see UNIDENTIFIED, I switched the DX398 to 10 kHz steps and went after Mexicans. Still indoors, on AC, but only with built-in ferrite antenna, easy to null QRM if necessary. Local sunrise is 1227 UT.
650, at 1219, string of government PSAs starting with Pro-Víctima, 800 number to call, from the National Human Rights Commission, mixed with some commercials, 1222 ID as ``W [doble-u] Radio, Radio 65`` including old XEW chimes, and again a few sex later. WRTH 2010 has R. 65 slogan for XETNT, Los Mochis, Sinaloa, 5/1 kW, but no mention of W. Cantú confirms W/Radio 65 for XETNT: http://mexicoradiotv.com/listsina.htm
710, at 1216, about 5 TCs by live DJ for 6:16 am, so no doubt it`s in CST/MDT zone, finally slogan as ``La Ranchera de Cuauhtémoc``, i.e. XEDP in town of that name, Chihuahua, 7 kW day and 100 watts nite, no doubt already on day power.
770, at 1225, right after 650 log, a 6:25 [MDT] TC, ``Los 40 Principales desde Los Mochis, Sinaloa``, IFE PSA. So XEREV from same city, 1/0.1 kW says WRTH. It takes the SS eight syllables to say what we convey in three: Top 40.
870, had to try for this one after the above logs: at 1228 going from Spanish to native language, 1229 ID by YL in passing as XETAR, music, rooster crowing.
It`s the Tarahumara station in Guachochi, Chihua2, La Voz de la Sierra Tarahumara, 10 kW daytimer 6 am-6 pm CST per illustrated: http://www.cdi.gob.mx/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=872:xetar-la-voz-de-la-sierra-tarahumara-&catid=35&Itemid=200018
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NORTH AMERICA. 6940-SSB, music Oct 1 at 0541, still at 0556, 0601, but off at next check 0604, so missed ID and sign-off, if any. Earlier at 0025 I had an ID from WEAK on same frequency, maybe same still/again, ignoring my advice to avoid 6940 after 0200 due to WWCR leapfrog. Just as well, as WWCR not audible before or after 0604 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** OKLAHOMA. Correxions necessary re my previous remarx about KSPI 780 Stillwater. Tho a daytimer, October official sunrise being 1230 UT, it was already on at 1209 Oct 1 with ONN newscast, mixing with a Mexican but not WBBM. NRC AM Log says it has no PSSA, which in a Sept 25 log under JAPAN, I mistook for PSRA: KSPI cannot stay on post-sunset, but obviously it can sign on pre-sunrise, probably at 6 am = 1100 UT. (It is impossible to nail down which stations have PSRA and which do not since FCC has disposed of its records of such authorizations!) FYI, official KSPI sunsets in UT are: Oct 0000, Nov & Dec 2315, Jan 2330, Feb 0015.
Furthermore, I said in that log and in previous ones dated Aug 7 and March 17, that KSPI`s spurs are on 774 and 786 kHz, i.e. 6 kHz above and below. But they are really on 776 and 784, i.e. 4 kHz above and below, as I originally reported on Feb 8! So there is no problem confusing the lower one with NHK on 774, on a 1-kHz-step tuner.
I was confused because I often hear these on the 10-kHz step caradio, where they also put 6-kHz, not 4-kHz hets on weak 770 and 790 signals, and it`s broad enough to audiblize them. Of course, these spurs, wherever they are, need to be eliminated. I wonder if anyone can get them beyond my groundwave range from this 250-watter (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 6890, WEWN English on this frequency too suffers from audio garbage mixture, at 0539 Oct 1. At 0605 I also hear the mushy spur on 6900, fortunately against nothing, but hard to pull out match on 6880 due to strong WYFR on 6875 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 5985, WYFR yet another station with audio feed problems, Oct 1 at 1144 YL Spanish frequency announcement, modulation cuts on for alternate syllables, more or less, carrier off at 1145*, but back on with OC at 1146 after antenna change from 355 to 315 degrees, and consequently stronger here (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. 6297+, SASASAM weaker than usual, Oct 1 at 0556 with carrier, 0604 chants with utebeeps (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. Oct 1 from 1156 UT started a MW bandscan with the DX398 indoors, only built-in ferrite bar antenna but with AC, set on 9 kHz steps, with BFO slightly off-tuned, to detect trans-Pacific carriers, and found a lot of them but none strong enough for modulation, in the order logged until 1205: 828, 747, 594, 567, 558, 693, 855- (off-frequency to lo side, so North Korea), 873, 891, 1053, 1098, 1134, 1242, 558; weakening by 1212. I expect many of them were superpower NHK outlets. See also OKLAHOMA: KSPI (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 1081, persistent het on KRLD, Oct 1 at 0521, presumably off-frequency Latin American as the TA channel is also 1080 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. Re my previous log on 5935, Sept 30 at 2337, sounds like BBCWS, via SOUTH AFRICA? Another log of this a few minutes later:
5935 kHz, 30 Sept 2010, 2352 UT, still on at 0012 [Oct 1]. BBC WS in English // and in sync with 648. Strong signal, WWCR pushed far into the background. 73, (Eike Bierwirth, RMRC DX Camp, Langenselbold / Germany, Perseus + Long Wire, HCDX via DXLD) Will it happen again?
UNIDENTIFIED. 7181, surprised to find ham in AM mode here, Oct 1 at 1121, keeps clearing throat, temp 58 degrees, but no other clues until he concluded at 1124 with slogan ``AM radio in the South``, and call given only once sounded like W1R, which is possible but unlisted. Suspect his throat caught, or hit the switch before completing one or two more letters. Waited several minutes but did not hear any contact on same frequency nor his return. AMers on 40m normally appear around 7290 by convention, but I suppose they are also allowed to operate in the ``SSB`` subband. (Like on 80m mainly around 3890, but also hear some AM guys in the 3600s). Googled the slogan and got only nine hits, none of them productive (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
** AUSTRALIA. 15415, Oct 1 at 0548 mentioning Commonwealth Games, and Australia, but not // RA Pacific service on 15240, 15160, 13690, 13630. 15415 much weaker than the others, as it`s the RA Asian service, which diverges Saturday afternoons, but this was Friday (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CANADA. 6070, checking remodulated CFRX: Oct 1 at 0533 hotel ad, but definitely undermodulated, without the punch it enjoyed for months. Also lite SAH with something, ELWA? 0603 undermodulated YL with news but now no CCI. Next check 1114 better modulation, 1143 still not up to par (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHAD. 6165, RNT, Oct 1 at 0528 African drumming, atop medium SAH which leads me to believe it is much closer to center channel than before; 0529 French announcements, TC for 6:30, talking about Nigéria, N`djamena, Abidjan. It`s blocked until 0527* by RNW Bonaire (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake Oct 1: nothing found 8-18 MHz, 1252-1258 UT except: 14700, imagination level maybe. CRI English, 17490 via Kashgar, EAST TURKISTAN was however making it well with Chinese lesson at 1257 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. 6042, weak cut numbers (10 letters substituting for digits) from spy station on A2, Oct 1 at 0535, also traces of RHC English, proving that these are coming from same RadioCuba site, as extremely strong numbers at this hour are heard every night on fundamental 5898, which leaps over RHC 5970 another 72 kHz up.
9865, Oct 1 at 1150, pulse jamming against nothing, then gone, probably spur from 9805 and/or 9955 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** EQUATORIAL GUINEA [non]. 6250, altho two nights earlier, caught RNGE on the air already at 0528, probably having overlapped NHK/Bonaire leapfrog also on 6250 until 0527*, missed checking Sept 30, and on Oct 1 there is no sign of it, just NHK cutting off at 0527, and nothing more at several chex thru 0556. Do they just turn on the SW transmitter when they feel like it; have persistent technical or power problems; or oversleep? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GUATEMALA. As advised by Dr. Madrid, R. Verdad has adjusted the ham transmitter they are temporarily using, to include a carrier; 4055, Oct 1 at 0512 now I can zero-beat a carrier, but not enough modulation to make much out of it; also suffers from intermittent ute QRM. Power was to have been doubled to 100 watts, but I am afraid reception is not twice as good. At 0554 playing country hymn in English, better reading S9+15, 0600 brief announcement and NA. 1116 had resumed, organ music and talk, also with carrier but poor (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. After surveying TP carriers Oct 1, see UNIDENTIFIED, I switched the DX398 to 10 kHz steps and went after Mexicans. Still indoors, on AC, but only with built-in ferrite antenna, easy to null QRM if necessary. Local sunrise is 1227 UT.
650, at 1219, string of government PSAs starting with Pro-Víctima, 800 number to call, from the National Human Rights Commission, mixed with some commercials, 1222 ID as ``W [doble-u] Radio, Radio 65`` including old XEW chimes, and again a few sex later. WRTH 2010 has R. 65 slogan for XETNT, Los Mochis, Sinaloa, 5/1 kW, but no mention of W. Cantú confirms W/Radio 65 for XETNT: http://mexicoradiotv.com/listsina.htm
710, at 1216, about 5 TCs by live DJ for 6:16 am, so no doubt it`s in CST/MDT zone, finally slogan as ``La Ranchera de Cuauhtémoc``, i.e. XEDP in town of that name, Chihuahua, 7 kW day and 100 watts nite, no doubt already on day power.
770, at 1225, right after 650 log, a 6:25 [MDT] TC, ``Los 40 Principales desde Los Mochis, Sinaloa``, IFE PSA. So XEREV from same city, 1/0.1 kW says WRTH. It takes the SS eight syllables to say what we convey in three: Top 40.
870, had to try for this one after the above logs: at 1228 going from Spanish to native language, 1229 ID by YL in passing as XETAR, music, rooster crowing.
It`s the Tarahumara station in Guachochi, Chihua2, La Voz de la Sierra Tarahumara, 10 kW daytimer 6 am-6 pm CST per illustrated: http://www.cdi.gob.mx/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=872:xetar-la-voz-de-la-sierra-tarahumara-&catid=35&Itemid=200018
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NORTH AMERICA. 6940-SSB, music Oct 1 at 0541, still at 0556, 0601, but off at next check 0604, so missed ID and sign-off, if any. Earlier at 0025 I had an ID from WEAK on same frequency, maybe same still/again, ignoring my advice to avoid 6940 after 0200 due to WWCR leapfrog. Just as well, as WWCR not audible before or after 0604 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** OKLAHOMA. Correxions necessary re my previous remarx about KSPI 780 Stillwater. Tho a daytimer, October official sunrise being 1230 UT, it was already on at 1209 Oct 1 with ONN newscast, mixing with a Mexican but not WBBM. NRC AM Log says it has no PSSA, which in a Sept 25 log under JAPAN, I mistook for PSRA: KSPI cannot stay on post-sunset, but obviously it can sign on pre-sunrise, probably at 6 am = 1100 UT. (It is impossible to nail down which stations have PSRA and which do not since FCC has disposed of its records of such authorizations!) FYI, official KSPI sunsets in UT are: Oct 0000, Nov & Dec 2315, Jan 2330, Feb 0015.
Furthermore, I said in that log and in previous ones dated Aug 7 and March 17, that KSPI`s spurs are on 774 and 786 kHz, i.e. 6 kHz above and below. But they are really on 776 and 784, i.e. 4 kHz above and below, as I originally reported on Feb 8! So there is no problem confusing the lower one with NHK on 774, on a 1-kHz-step tuner.
I was confused because I often hear these on the 10-kHz step caradio, where they also put 6-kHz, not 4-kHz hets on weak 770 and 790 signals, and it`s broad enough to audiblize them. Of course, these spurs, wherever they are, need to be eliminated. I wonder if anyone can get them beyond my groundwave range from this 250-watter (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 6890, WEWN English on this frequency too suffers from audio garbage mixture, at 0539 Oct 1. At 0605 I also hear the mushy spur on 6900, fortunately against nothing, but hard to pull out match on 6880 due to strong WYFR on 6875 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 5985, WYFR yet another station with audio feed problems, Oct 1 at 1144 YL Spanish frequency announcement, modulation cuts on for alternate syllables, more or less, carrier off at 1145*, but back on with OC at 1146 after antenna change from 355 to 315 degrees, and consequently stronger here (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. 6297+, SASASAM weaker than usual, Oct 1 at 0556 with carrier, 0604 chants with utebeeps (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. Oct 1 from 1156 UT started a MW bandscan with the DX398 indoors, only built-in ferrite bar antenna but with AC, set on 9 kHz steps, with BFO slightly off-tuned, to detect trans-Pacific carriers, and found a lot of them but none strong enough for modulation, in the order logged until 1205: 828, 747, 594, 567, 558, 693, 855- (off-frequency to lo side, so North Korea), 873, 891, 1053, 1098, 1134, 1242, 558; weakening by 1212. I expect many of them were superpower NHK outlets. See also OKLAHOMA: KSPI (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 1081, persistent het on KRLD, Oct 1 at 0521, presumably off-frequency Latin American as the TA channel is also 1080 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. Re my previous log on 5935, Sept 30 at 2337, sounds like BBCWS, via SOUTH AFRICA? Another log of this a few minutes later:
5935 kHz, 30 Sept 2010, 2352 UT, still on at 0012 [Oct 1]. BBC WS in English // and in sync with 648. Strong signal, WWCR pushed far into the background. 73, (Eike Bierwirth, RMRC DX Camp, Langenselbold / Germany, Perseus + Long Wire, HCDX via DXLD) Will it happen again?
UNIDENTIFIED. 7181, surprised to find ham in AM mode here, Oct 1 at 1121, keeps clearing throat, temp 58 degrees, but no other clues until he concluded at 1124 with slogan ``AM radio in the South``, and call given only once sounded like W1R, which is possible but unlisted. Suspect his throat caught, or hit the switch before completing one or two more letters. Waited several minutes but did not hear any contact on same frequency nor his return. AMers on 40m normally appear around 7290 by convention, but I suppose they are also allowed to operate in the ``SSB`` subband. (Like on 80m mainly around 3890, but also hear some AM guys in the 3600s). Googled the slogan and got only nine hits, none of them productive (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
