domenica 17 ottobre 2010

Glenn Hauser logs October 14-16, 2010

** BRAZIL [and non]. Following a tip from Manuel Méndez, Friol, Spain, that he was getting R. Inconfidência on 15189.7, 16 Oct at 1620-1707, I looked for it at 1808. But 15190 was totally dominated here by discussion in another language, with bits of English, presumably R. Pilipinas as also heard yesterday, but stronger now. Inconfidência is only a het. Wonder if R. Africa will continue to be absent until 2200 when WYFR takes over?

By 1830, however, I am not hearing anything on 15190, using a different receiver and antenna. Did Pilipinas go off much earlier than scheduled 1930? Anyhow, we know now that ZYE522 can vary both sides of 15190 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CUBA. 17705, Oct 14 at 2101, I realize that RNV relay which I had on before 2100 but not paying attention to, has just re-opened a new hour of transmission. It`s supposed to conclude by 2100; still going around 2105, but off the air at next check 2114. RadioCuba asleep at the switch again, but interesting that the RNV program feed automatically(?) started repeating. [Date is correct; inadvertently omitted from previous report] (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** OKLAHOMA. Geez, I messed it up again, the URL for my previous photo of 1317 Cansler, Enid Talking House. Those dratted slants and dots. Try again:
http://www.w4uvh.net/1670th1317ca.jpg

I am still hunting for new photo of the hornets` nest, as Paul Swearingen requested; if I can`t find it, will go back and take another one, altho it was rather prosaic (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** OKLAHOMA [and non]. The GCN pirate in Enid has remained more or less active on 99.9, never again caught on alternate 99.7 since the one time I heard it there; but checking Oct 16 at 2047 UT, it`s not on either frequency. Weak signal on 99.9 turns out to be KLUR Wichita Falls TX, despite being parked on the north side of a 2-storey storefront, which ought to block it compared to clear shot eastward toward KTCS Fort Smith AR at about the same distance, which otherwise tends to be the occupant of 99.9. 2048, Country 99.9 KLUR ID, 2052 another KLUR ID, plug a concert going on now in Wichita Falls on Market Street, and apparently a live remote from it.

Meanwhile 99.9 on the caradio was getting meteor bursts of some other music for split seconds about once per minute, at 2048, 2049 and 2052, a reminder that it`s about time for the Orionids, peaking Oct 21, these being precursors? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SPAIN. 21610, not accustomed to hearing REE on 13m well past local noon, but Oct 16 at 1854 I hear good signal with announcements of e-mail address arabe @ rtve.es being spelt out with the letters in Spanish (never mind the accent), then English, then French! Well, yeah, you can`t spell it in Arabic, so poor monolinguals are out of luck unless they can spell in one of those three foreign languages. 1856 the REE fanfare once, IS once and off at 1856:30*. It`s 250 kW, 110 degrees from Noblejas at 17-19 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A [and non]. 15185, Saturday Oct 16 at 2045, fair signal with English lessons for French, much weaker than // 15730. The VOA schedule has Hausa M-F at 2030-2100 on 15185, French Sat/Sun at 2030-2100 on 15185. Originally both were from Botswana, but French aimed 20 degrees further east. As we reported a few days ago, one of the Botswana transmitters broke down, so on weekdays, 15185 had Greenville backing it up, resulting in a much stronger signal here. Now on Oct 16, the big signal is on 15730, Greenville as usual, so this 15185 must be back to Botswana, or somewhere else (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. For the third evening, I am again getting Univisión on analog ch 48 from the northeast. Already at 2315 UT Oct 16, the signal is beginning to show without horizontal synch (my old B&W TV set does that on very weak signals, and no horizontal hold!). By 2330 it synchs up and I reconfirm it`s // but not time-synchronized with Univisión direct feed on Suddenlink cable 61. As before, the signal is extremely steady, strengthens little by little; by 0050 it is still snowy and audio is not making it, but rock-steady.

I had asked Trip Ericson and Doug Smith for their evaluation of this, based on my previous reports:

``The only station that fits the profile, as far as I can tell, is
KUKC-LP [Kansas City MO]. I recall hearing, at one time, that several stations owned by Equity Broadcasting carried a single Univision feed which I distinctly remember included the affiliate in Jackson MS.  I don't recall if it included KUKC. - Trip,
http://www.rabbitears.info``

``Agreed. The only Univisions I know of on 48 in Oklahoma or states bordering it are KUKC, KWDW OKC, and KVSN Pueblo, Colorado  (which is not only the wrong direction but a DTV station) -- Doug Smith W9WI
Pleasant View, TN  EM66``

BTW, rabbitears.info for KC Market 31 does not include KUKC-LP, even when expanded. I get my info on it from W9WI.com and FCC TV Query.

The ch 48 relay call of KUOK in OKC (Nichols Hills) is indeed KWDW (alluding to Woodward?), not KWTW as I was writing it before.

Once again I compare by rotating the antenna between the SSE and the NE, and the signal from NE is much stronger, than from SSE (KWDW). Including at 0041 UT Oct 17, when I had just seen an OKC ad cutaway on 48 from the NE, during Sábado Gigante. And more of that later. When I previously saw OKC ID and ads when looking at 48 from the NE, could it have really been KWDW at the moment instead of the mystery? This check indicates not so.

Here are the arguments against it being KUKC-LP, Kansas City MO, the closest known Univisión station in that direxion from here:

1, It`s 249 miles away (401 km), with only 12.7 kW ERP. It might be DXed with a very good tropo opening, but steadily every night and morning? This is the kind of reception one would expect from 100 miles max, a station on the verge, which fades out in the daytime, but with a little humidity in the evenings and mornings, comes back up.

Possibly there is a very stable duct between KUKC and here? That seems extremely unlikely, at least on an overland path. Hepburn`s tropo maps for Saturday morning showed we were along the edge of an enhanced tropo area (only purple) to Kansas City, but that also includes points closer.

2, Any station in Kansas City would not be carrying Oklahoma City ads and IDs.

3, offsets: when I originally saw this, KWDW was getting 10-kHz offset QRM from the other station carrying UNI. KWDW is zero offset, and W9Wi.com shows KUKC as ZdH, which I assume means it is also zero, so that does not fit; dH meaning direxional, horizontally polarized? These abbrs. are not explained anywhere I can find at W9Wi.com. BTW, KUKC-LP will eventually move to channel 39 as KUKC-LD for which there is a CP. Then we can forget about ever seeing it, vs KWTV-39 OKC.

4, If this is coming in, why aren`t other much more powerful Kansas City market stations? Initially I was not looking for them specifically, but I am tonight, manually tuning thru all the RF channels. None of the KC channels on Trip`s market 31 list show any signal at all (other than the ones blocked by OKC); except something on 18, KCPT?

No, that`s probably Ponca City OK KTEW-LD, as OETA-38 is also in from there and decoding, about same direxion as KC. I do another full UHF manual tune at 0122, and now some channels correlating with Tulsa and Wichita are showing signs, but not decoding, as the antenna is aimed about halfway between them, yet nothing from e.g. WDAF-34 in KC, while I am looking at the snowy but steady mystery 48 on my analog set.

Is my C-490 antenna fooling me, with very strange lobes at ch 48? This would have to be pulling in a stronger signal from about 120 degrees off than when aimed directly at the OKC station. I have not noticed it doing that in any other case. Beamwidth is typically most narrow at the top end of UHF.

Could it be cable leakage? No, RF channel 48 does not equal a cable channel 61, where UNI is in Enid, and after all, that is direct, not via KUOK. Could it be someone`s home distribution system in Enid? That would not be fading in and out according to area tropo enhancement. And besides, would it be exactly tuned to offset plus or minus?

It seems to me this has to be an unknown transmitter much closer than Kansas City but in that direxion, perhaps somewhere around Ponca City OK. Was there ever a channel 48 translator or LPTV there? Perhaps someone forgot to turn it off, or figured they would keep Univisión into Ponca without going to the trouble of licensing, etc. Maybe someday I will try visiting PC with a portable analog TV set, tho my old Radio Shack 5-incher is the worse for wear.

The question is, how the KUOK-35 Woodward DTV signal is getting to this channel 48 analog relay. Certainly not off the air direct from Woodward, too far away. And also too far for reliable pickup of the lowpower in OKC on channel 36. And why does the signal I see have ghosting on it? A DTV input could not have that, of course.

If there is an affiliate list at
http://www.univision.com it is well hidden; only seems to concentrate on major markets. Searching site on KWDW and KUOK produced zero results. Searching KUKC only led to several stories about Eslovaquia en el Mundial!

Maybe I should ask KUOK itself. But would they give me a straight answer, if they should know about this? (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###