** ALASKA. 7355, KNLS makes a rare appearance here during English hour. I tune by this frequency just about every morning and can`t hear it either due to propagation or sporadicity. Anyhow, Oct 17 at 1210, fair signal talking about Charles Russell, western painter, ``tribute to cowboy life in Oklahoma City, just another stop along the American highway``, i.e. Rte. 66. As always, the secular segments are too short, segué to ``True Stories from the Bible in Contemporary English``, about Xerxes (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CANADA. 6175, instead of Vietnam in Vietnamese, Oct 17 at 0513 via CANADA, the VTC music fill loop was already running instead of waiting until 0527:30. Babcock master control in London (on BBC premises) must have lost incoming programme feed. Meanwhile, the NHK relay via Sackville on 6110 was normal: that`s a direct exchange with RCI, maybe not routed thru London (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake October 17: none found 8-15 MHz between 1248 and 1255. However, I see that plenty of it is being reported at other times and from other places, e.g. Wolfgang Büschel in Germany, so my lack of it must be primarily propagational (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GUATEMALA. 4055.0, R. Verdad JBA at 0514 Oct 17, matching 6055.0 REE (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** JAPAN [and non]. TP bandscan for carriers, Oct 17 just before sunrise: from 1217 upward in USB mode on the DX-398 at 9-kHz steps: 594, 693, 774, 792, 891, 1053, 1098, 1134. From 1223 downward in LSB mode, could hear only 1098, 774; no audios, so flip to 10 kHz for Mexican SRS (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. Another search for sunrise skip MW DX, Oct 17. Around 1225, usual suspects on 610, 650, 730, 870, probably relogs so kept seeking elsewhere.
700, at 1231, Mexican NA from the WSW; 1233 quick jingle ID with call letters but could not copy, ``Buenos días de XE ---``, TC for 27:7 so is in CST/MDT zone, into canned show ``Consejos para un mejor vivir``, maybe about astrology? At least that was mentioned, soon fading out. Per WRTH the only fit is XEGD, 5 kW, La Poderosa, Hidalgo del Parral, Chihuahua. All others are in the wrong part of Mexico except XEETCH, 5 kW daytimer, La Voz de los Tres Ríos, Etchojoa, Sonora, but that`s in the UT-7 zone.
** OKLAHOMA [and non?]. Continuing monitoring of steady but snowy analog signal on channel 48 from the northeast with relay of KUOK-35, DTV Univisión from Woodward/OKC: strength did not increase much toward local midnight 0500 UT Oct 17, but the channel 18 DTV ``bad`` signal I was getting from same direxion did turn out to be Ponca City`s KTEW, decoding at 0248 with RetroTV // KXOK-31 Enid, as we also see joint IDs with it on the latter. Was Saturday night B&W horror movie with color breaks by costumed studio hosts and macabre puppets. KTEW PSIP displays as 18-1 KTEW-DT. That rules out KCPT Kansas City reception on 18, further evidence that the ch 48 is not KUKC.
Better reception on 48 tnx to morning tropo enhancement. More Univisión with OKC ad breaks; at 1430 I catch a supered ID in tiny letters at the upper right, of two lines. The second line says Canal 13 de Cable (not sure of the number), and the first line is mostly off-screen! due to the permanent over-scan of the old Zenith 12-inch set I use for analog DX. Maybe the solution to this is on that invisible line. At 1500 ran regular KUOK ID slide showing calls of ch 36 and 48 relays in OKC, not this one, plus 5-day forecast. Perhaps the UR supered IDs appear only on the half-hour? Unfortunately had faded too far down by 1530. Must keep an eye on that (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** PERU. 18057.9, Oct 17 at 1343, very weak carrier, then bits of audio, only music past 1353. R. Victoria, Lima, 3 x 6019.3 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** RUSSIA. 5930, mostly motorboating rather than Russian programming audible, R. Rossii, already at 0516 UT Oct 17, even earlier than the night before. Would be interesting to detect just how early it can be heard, as winter solstice oncomes (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TUNISIA. 9725, soprano with Arabic song, Oct 17 at 0506, good signal. Figured it might be Tunisia so checked 7275, and found that // just in time, as 9725 cut off the air in mid-song at 0507:30 after a few sex of dead air, which is the typical pattern when RTT deliberately goes off. Then at 0511:05*, 7275 also cut off the air. That must have been unexpected. Next check at 0605, 7275 was back on along with // 7335 in Arabic talk, news?
Per WRTH May update, nominal closetime for 9725 is 0500, along with 12005. HFCC registrations for this read roughly one hour later than reality. Why would RTT go from higher bands before sunrise to lower bands later? 9725 is aimed east, 100 degrees, while 7275 is aimed NW, 340 degrees (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 660, Oct 17 at 1235 UT, Dineh drumming and chanting, no doubt from KTNN, Window Rock AZ, with KSKY Dallas nulled. Is this really on night pattern with null toward New York and us? Of course, it`s already sunny eastward from OK, so why not day pattern? No way at this hour it could be degrading WFAN in the Atlantic Northwest (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 7415, surprised to find WBCQ still on much later than usual, UT Sunday Oct 17 at 0602 as who else would be playing the Star Spangled Banner? Version by barbershop quartet, nice. I had previously lamented that WBCQ never played the SSB, so hope they make a habit of it, in multiple versions. Now how about all other US SW stations??
Before the last note could resolve, however, cut to buy-some-airtime promo by Allan Weiner; and then to his generic sign-off of ``Free Speech Radio``, which never mentions any frequency or schedule times, carrier cut immediately at 0604*. I wonder what they were running until 0600? Online guide shows off at 0400 after four hours of QSO Radio Show, UT Sundays only (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [and non]. Unusual propagation Oct 17 at 0506 prevented WYFR from being heard at all on its 9 MHz channels, 9985, 9715, 9680; the last two usually inboom in the nightmiddle. But still VG on 7520, 6985, 6875, 5985, 5950. Further signals on 9 MHz band were still incoming, e.g. TUNISIA. 11 MHz was almost dead except for weak 11725 NZ, 11780 Brasil. At 0517, even 5985 started weakening, but recovered.
WWV reports: ``Geophysical Alert Message
# Solar-terrestrial indices for 16 October follow.
Solar flux 87 and mid-latitude A-index 5.
The mid-latitude K-index at 0600 UTC on 17 October was 3 (26 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)
** U S A. 18125-USB, at 1335-1339 Oct 17, ham speaking Yiddish with American accent mixed with some English. Or was it Low German? Certainly not High German. Did not hear the other side, duplex? Finally IDed at closing as N2II. ARRL lookup shows:
Weber, Siegfried, N2II, 718 Colgate Ave, Lanoka Harbor, NJ 08734
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** VENEZUELA [non]. ``Aló, Presidente`` check Sunday Oct 17 at 1632: special frequencies via CUBA are on the air, 17750, 13750 and 12010, but only with RHC programming // 15380, 13680, 11760, 11730, 11690, report from Canadá about béisbol; is a Cuban team playing there? Maybe El Hugazo will show up later? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 15261-SSB, 2-way (or 3-way?) colloquial Spanish contacts, mentioning geo coordinates, barcos, so probably poachers, Oct 17 at 1254; blown away a few minutes later by Sackville 15260 with CRI English (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
** CANADA. 6175, instead of Vietnam in Vietnamese, Oct 17 at 0513 via CANADA, the VTC music fill loop was already running instead of waiting until 0527:30. Babcock master control in London (on BBC premises) must have lost incoming programme feed. Meanwhile, the NHK relay via Sackville on 6110 was normal: that`s a direct exchange with RCI, maybe not routed thru London (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake October 17: none found 8-15 MHz between 1248 and 1255. However, I see that plenty of it is being reported at other times and from other places, e.g. Wolfgang Büschel in Germany, so my lack of it must be primarily propagational (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GUATEMALA. 4055.0, R. Verdad JBA at 0514 Oct 17, matching 6055.0 REE (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** JAPAN [and non]. TP bandscan for carriers, Oct 17 just before sunrise: from 1217 upward in USB mode on the DX-398 at 9-kHz steps: 594, 693, 774, 792, 891, 1053, 1098, 1134. From 1223 downward in LSB mode, could hear only 1098, 774; no audios, so flip to 10 kHz for Mexican SRS (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. Another search for sunrise skip MW DX, Oct 17. Around 1225, usual suspects on 610, 650, 730, 870, probably relogs so kept seeking elsewhere.
700, at 1231, Mexican NA from the WSW; 1233 quick jingle ID with call letters but could not copy, ``Buenos días de XE ---``, TC for 27:7 so is in CST/MDT zone, into canned show ``Consejos para un mejor vivir``, maybe about astrology? At least that was mentioned, soon fading out. Per WRTH the only fit is XEGD, 5 kW, La Poderosa, Hidalgo del Parral, Chihuahua. All others are in the wrong part of Mexico except XEETCH, 5 kW daytimer, La Voz de los Tres Ríos, Etchojoa, Sonora, but that`s in the UT-7 zone.
** OKLAHOMA [and non?]. Continuing monitoring of steady but snowy analog signal on channel 48 from the northeast with relay of KUOK-35, DTV Univisión from Woodward/OKC: strength did not increase much toward local midnight 0500 UT Oct 17, but the channel 18 DTV ``bad`` signal I was getting from same direxion did turn out to be Ponca City`s KTEW, decoding at 0248 with RetroTV // KXOK-31 Enid, as we also see joint IDs with it on the latter. Was Saturday night B&W horror movie with color breaks by costumed studio hosts and macabre puppets. KTEW PSIP displays as 18-1 KTEW-DT. That rules out KCPT Kansas City reception on 18, further evidence that the ch 48 is not KUKC.
Better reception on 48 tnx to morning tropo enhancement. More Univisión with OKC ad breaks; at 1430 I catch a supered ID in tiny letters at the upper right, of two lines. The second line says Canal 13 de Cable (not sure of the number), and the first line is mostly off-screen! due to the permanent over-scan of the old Zenith 12-inch set I use for analog DX. Maybe the solution to this is on that invisible line. At 1500 ran regular KUOK ID slide showing calls of ch 36 and 48 relays in OKC, not this one, plus 5-day forecast. Perhaps the UR supered IDs appear only on the half-hour? Unfortunately had faded too far down by 1530. Must keep an eye on that (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** PERU. 18057.9, Oct 17 at 1343, very weak carrier, then bits of audio, only music past 1353. R. Victoria, Lima, 3 x 6019.3 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** RUSSIA. 5930, mostly motorboating rather than Russian programming audible, R. Rossii, already at 0516 UT Oct 17, even earlier than the night before. Would be interesting to detect just how early it can be heard, as winter solstice oncomes (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TUNISIA. 9725, soprano with Arabic song, Oct 17 at 0506, good signal. Figured it might be Tunisia so checked 7275, and found that // just in time, as 9725 cut off the air in mid-song at 0507:30 after a few sex of dead air, which is the typical pattern when RTT deliberately goes off. Then at 0511:05*, 7275 also cut off the air. That must have been unexpected. Next check at 0605, 7275 was back on along with // 7335 in Arabic talk, news?
Per WRTH May update, nominal closetime for 9725 is 0500, along with 12005. HFCC registrations for this read roughly one hour later than reality. Why would RTT go from higher bands before sunrise to lower bands later? 9725 is aimed east, 100 degrees, while 7275 is aimed NW, 340 degrees (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 660, Oct 17 at 1235 UT, Dineh drumming and chanting, no doubt from KTNN, Window Rock AZ, with KSKY Dallas nulled. Is this really on night pattern with null toward New York and us? Of course, it`s already sunny eastward from OK, so why not day pattern? No way at this hour it could be degrading WFAN in the Atlantic Northwest (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 7415, surprised to find WBCQ still on much later than usual, UT Sunday Oct 17 at 0602 as who else would be playing the Star Spangled Banner? Version by barbershop quartet, nice. I had previously lamented that WBCQ never played the SSB, so hope they make a habit of it, in multiple versions. Now how about all other US SW stations??
Before the last note could resolve, however, cut to buy-some-airtime promo by Allan Weiner; and then to his generic sign-off of ``Free Speech Radio``, which never mentions any frequency or schedule times, carrier cut immediately at 0604*. I wonder what they were running until 0600? Online guide shows off at 0400 after four hours of QSO Radio Show, UT Sundays only (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [and non]. Unusual propagation Oct 17 at 0506 prevented WYFR from being heard at all on its 9 MHz channels, 9985, 9715, 9680; the last two usually inboom in the nightmiddle. But still VG on 7520, 6985, 6875, 5985, 5950. Further signals on 9 MHz band were still incoming, e.g. TUNISIA. 11 MHz was almost dead except for weak 11725 NZ, 11780 Brasil. At 0517, even 5985 started weakening, but recovered.
WWV reports: ``Geophysical Alert Message
# Solar-terrestrial indices for 16 October follow.
Solar flux 87 and mid-latitude A-index 5.
The mid-latitude K-index at 0600 UTC on 17 October was 3 (26 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)
** U S A. 18125-USB, at 1335-1339 Oct 17, ham speaking Yiddish with American accent mixed with some English. Or was it Low German? Certainly not High German. Did not hear the other side, duplex? Finally IDed at closing as N2II. ARRL lookup shows:
Weber, Siegfried, N2II, 718 Colgate Ave, Lanoka Harbor, NJ 08734
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** VENEZUELA [non]. ``Aló, Presidente`` check Sunday Oct 17 at 1632: special frequencies via CUBA are on the air, 17750, 13750 and 12010, but only with RHC programming // 15380, 13680, 11760, 11730, 11690, report from Canadá about béisbol; is a Cuban team playing there? Maybe El Hugazo will show up later? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 15261-SSB, 2-way (or 3-way?) colloquial Spanish contacts, mentioning geo coordinates, barcos, so probably poachers, Oct 17 at 1254; blown away a few minutes later by Sackville 15260 with CRI English (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
