** ALBANIA. Checking out the remainder of R. Tirana`s English broadcasts, on new B-10 schedule, continued from last report:
At 0248 Nov 2, 6130 is good with no CCI or ACI [0245-0300]
At 0343 Nov 2, 6100 is good with no CCI or ACI [0330-0400]
At 0429 Nov 2, 6100 is even better with no CCI or ACI [0430-0500].
At 1555 Nov 2, 13640 poor propagation today, but still no QRM [1530-1600] (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ANTARCTICA. Most weekday mornings I manage to pull a carrier from LRA36, 15476, but a while since any audio. Nov 2 at 1324 could detect a YL speaking a few words of Spanish before fading down. It was S7 peaking briefly to S9+5. Those closer to Europe with a 15480 QRM problem should try between 1400 and 1430 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. 6040, Nov 2 at 1206, CNR1 echo jammers atop soft music. They must be here because of VOA Chinese via Thailand on 6040 at 12-15, as the paranoid ChiCom continue to try to block our broadcasts into the country, while we even allow them to relay CRI English via domestic US stations! We nice guys are finishing last in this radio war.
Firedrake search Nov 2: at 1234, nothing on 10520; and no others found up to 18 MHz by 1244.
13665, Nov 2 at 1238, CRI English with good reception; via ALBANIA at 11-13 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. At 0248 Nov 2, RHC English is to be found only on 5970 and weaker 6000. Apparently 5970 starts sometime after 0100 and 6000 after 0200, rather than as published by Arnie, 6000 and 6050 from 0100.
At 0536 Nov 2, English on 5970, 6010, both much stronger than QRMed 6060, and undermodulated 6150 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA [and non]. R. Martí and jamming observations Nov 2: at 1208, reactivated 5745 is still jamming-free, while 5980 has heavy jamming mixed with RM, and 6030 jamming only; at 1215, 7405 RM also free of jamming. At 1233, 9805 has heavy jamming only; 9885 VOA Spanish with lite jamming pulses; 9955 WRMI and 9965 República totally blocked by walls of noise. At 1236, VOA Spanish on 13715 without jamming but abutting REE Spanish 13720; at 1242, 15590 VOA Spanish also jamming-free. Expect VOA Spanish to shift one UT hour later in morning and evening from Nov 7, for the convenience of Washington after DST, not the listeners (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GUATEMALA. 4052.5-, R. Verdad stays slightly on the low side, Nov 2 at 0537 with Spanish talk, presumably sermon. What about the English hymns during this final nightly hour? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. 9526-, Nov 2 at 1327, VOI has VG signal but hum/whine is worse than usual, plus the IADs they cannot or will not get rid of. Concluding Today in History segment, something about Levelland TX. 1328 ID as network program between Jakarta and RRI Banjarmasin, i.e. Tuesdays` Exotic Indonesia excursion.
This time the Jak YL addressed the Banj guy with a name sounding like ``Fator``, and he called her ``Rachma``, no idea about correct spelling of either. 1329 ``Focus`` quotes Democratic Voice of Burma about Myanmar uranium mining and nuclear weapons technology, despite being a signatory to the IAEA non-proliferation treaty.
1333 over to Banj for a program about traditional dances, starting with one performed at a local Islamic conference. Pre-recorded scripted talk read by YL identifying some traditional dances of South Kalimantan, with lots of unfamiliar Indonesian names, and far too much talk, far too little music exemplifying them. 1349 to a song by a YL chosen by Fator (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MOROCCO. 15341+, RTM still off-frequency Nov 2 at 1241 with Arabic vocal music, no het to make it obvious. Two hours later at 1445-1501*, Harold Frodge in MI heard on 15341.15 ``alternating commentaries in German, Hebrew, Arabic and French``, which would be news for this station! Probably some token stuff relayed from domestic service (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** RUSSIA [and non]. 9695, Nov 2 at 1218, VORWS ID, program about popular march music, for military parades thru WWII, Nov 7, 1941 being a key date. Lots of neat musical clips. Fair with flutter, some CCI; at 1230 news headlines starting with the South Kuril Islands flap, Japanese ambassador recalled, and now the CCI is Sakura!
The day before, I tuned across a 9695 English broadcast and assumed it was R. Japan. In fact, NHK is scheduled for English at 1200-1230 to SE Asia, then Thai, but VOR is also on 9695 in English at 12-13 via Samara, 250 kW, 140 degrees for S Asia, too close for comfort (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN. 9690, strong open carrier at 0408 Nov 2; from 0410 REE IS which will drive you nuts if you axually listen to it for 5 minutes straight. They need to add some variations, like Turkey or Serbia. 0415 opening Emisión Sefarad, usual YL giving schedule as Mon 1425 on 15385, UT Tue 0115 on 11780, 0415 on 9690. Rest of the semihour show was mostly music, enjoyable.
I missed checking the 0115 to South America, so will have to wait another week. That broadcast was absent for half of A-10, due to some oversight at Noblejas until my repeated inquiries got through; then it came back on 11795, but if it`s really on 11780 now, it will be colliding with Brasília. I also made requests for monitoring of this from South America, but there was absolutely no interest.
Still seeking the new Basque program from REE, Nov 2 at 1323 check on 15170 via Costa Rica --- no, it`s still in Spanish, mixing with Romania.
Yimber Gaviría found an REE page with details on the new programming,
via http://bit.ly/aa61JJ but the times are local UT +1 --- is this really an exterior or an interior station? It claims Basque is at 1405 (1305 UT), so maybe they have just not initiated it yet --- plus word of adding a quarter-hour of news in 5 languages:
``Más información en todos los idiomas --- A la parrilla de REE se incorpora, además, un informativo en euskera, que ofrecerá, todos los días, de lunes a viernes desde las 14:05 horas, la emisora autonómica vasca.
Además, a partir de las 16:30 horas habrá un informativo de 15 minutos que se realizará con pequeños boletines en los distintos idiomas en los que Radio Exterior de España emite. Aparte del español: francés, inglés, árabe, ruso y portugués.``
So I was monitoring 17595, best here, Nov 2 at 1530 UT, and the latter has indeed started, ``Noticias en idiomas del mundo``, starting with Portuguese, 1534 French, 1537:25 English with Allison Hughes, including Oklahomans voting whether to ban sharia law, 1541 Arabic, 1544 outro also mentioning Russian before Arabic, but there was none today. REE`s distinctive three-note-rising stingers inserted between each headline. If they cram 5 languages into 14 minutes instead of 4, that obviously will mean an average of only 2.8 minutes each including the time-consuming and wasteful stingers (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TURKEY. Trying VOT`s new 9655 for English to North America a second night, UT Nov 2 at 0408: very poor and can`t even be sure the signal there is in English or from Turkey; again eclipsed by 9660 Vatican via Madagascar, which if I understood Amharic would be armchair copy. Will TRT doggedly stick to this useless frequency for the rest of B-10? To change it and regain listeners would be to admit one had made a mistake; which is more important? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [non?]. 17740, VOA Portuguese underway Nov 2 at 1703, while it was missing yesterday until later in the hour. Extremely strong signal, and splattering at least plus/minus 15 kHz. So far I have not managed to intune before 1700 in case there be a clue as to site really in use, i.e. a note or two of the RCI IS, but scheduled as Sackville instead of Greenville (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also CUBA [and non]
** U S A. As I have been outpointing, 1200 UT is the official local sunrise time in Orangeburg SC for November, but apparently WPJK has not heard about it. Tune in 3160 at 1158 Nov 2 and it`s already on with music; so still signing on at 1130? Must resume checking that early. 1159 announcement, 1200 train whistles, gospel music; T-storm noise from offshore TX & LA, and/or northern MS, prevented much copy (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. MW DX on DX-398 with internal antenna; prime references NRC AM Log, and NRC Pattern Book:
720, still looking for KDWN Las Vegas NV, Nov 2 at 1315 UT, no sign of it, just the SAH typical of KSAH vs WGN. I am monitoring again at 1415 which is when KDWN is authorized to switch to non-direxional day pattern. I do hear a weak signal now but cannot be sure it is not just WGN, and hard to DF; a slower subaudible heterodyne does point to something other than WGN/KSAH in the mix.
880, Nov 2 at 1306, Imus from E/W vs KRVN from the N/S, i.e. KLRG Arkansas per http://www.imus.com/station-list/category/arkansas which shows him at 5-9 am CT.
1210, Nov 2 at 1310, local news mentioning Huron, 1311 clips of South Dakota gubernatorial and other candidates; 1313 outro with ID as ``Dakota Country 1210, KOKK, news director Zack Nelson(?)``. Huron is in east central SD, nowhere near a Great Lake; seems KOKK has a good local news department thanks to him.
It`s easy at the moment, nulling KGYN. Day power is 5 kW, night 900 watts. Official Huron sunrise in Nov is not until 1330 UT, while in Oct it was 1245. Day pattern has a deep null northwards, broad lobe to SE but plenty also to S, while nite pattern has deep null toward Philadelphia, broad lobe to NW but some also to S. Has CP for similar patterns. NRC lists no PSRA, but this signal suggests it was on day power and pattern early.
1300, Nov 2 at 1318, ``perfect weather for voting`` frosty at 27 degrees, but climbing; DF for N/S, but at that temp I`ll pick north. Faded before any further clues. Most likely 5 kW KBRL McCook NE which has a lobe our way, if not non-direxional 5 kW KOLY Mobridge SD.
1350, Nov 2 at 1257 UT, ID as 1350 KMAN, Manhattan (Kansas), plug for community calendar at http://1350kman.com and also had a low het from NW/SE; at 1259 a Fox Sports Radio from NW/SE, presumably KDZA Pueblo CO.
1370, Nov 2 at 1406, ``Fox 1370, The Right Choice``, plugging Ingraham and Hannity shows; Google hits point instead to ``Talk 1370, The Right Choice,`` for Austin TX market, KJCE Rollingwood, which has a broad northward lobe. Program guide:
http://www.talkradio1370am.com/pages/402107.php
(Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. TP MW carrier search Nov 2: from 1242 UT upward in LSB mode on DX-398: 747, 828. 1244 downward in USB mode: 1422, 1332, 1242, 1179, 1134, 1116, 1044, 972, 828, 774. 972, no doubt KOREA SOUTH, seemed a bit stronger than the other traces, but not enough for audio (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 1560, Nov 2 at 1255 UT, one station here is off-frequency enough to make a rumbling low het; seems to peak NNE/SSW, making KLNG Council Bluffs IA or KZQQ Abilene TX the prime suspects, while dominant signal was KGOW Bellaire TX (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
At 0248 Nov 2, 6130 is good with no CCI or ACI [0245-0300]
At 0343 Nov 2, 6100 is good with no CCI or ACI [0330-0400]
At 0429 Nov 2, 6100 is even better with no CCI or ACI [0430-0500].
At 1555 Nov 2, 13640 poor propagation today, but still no QRM [1530-1600] (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ANTARCTICA. Most weekday mornings I manage to pull a carrier from LRA36, 15476, but a while since any audio. Nov 2 at 1324 could detect a YL speaking a few words of Spanish before fading down. It was S7 peaking briefly to S9+5. Those closer to Europe with a 15480 QRM problem should try between 1400 and 1430 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. 6040, Nov 2 at 1206, CNR1 echo jammers atop soft music. They must be here because of VOA Chinese via Thailand on 6040 at 12-15, as the paranoid ChiCom continue to try to block our broadcasts into the country, while we even allow them to relay CRI English via domestic US stations! We nice guys are finishing last in this radio war.
Firedrake search Nov 2: at 1234, nothing on 10520; and no others found up to 18 MHz by 1244.
13665, Nov 2 at 1238, CRI English with good reception; via ALBANIA at 11-13 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. At 0248 Nov 2, RHC English is to be found only on 5970 and weaker 6000. Apparently 5970 starts sometime after 0100 and 6000 after 0200, rather than as published by Arnie, 6000 and 6050 from 0100.
At 0536 Nov 2, English on 5970, 6010, both much stronger than QRMed 6060, and undermodulated 6150 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA [and non]. R. Martí and jamming observations Nov 2: at 1208, reactivated 5745 is still jamming-free, while 5980 has heavy jamming mixed with RM, and 6030 jamming only; at 1215, 7405 RM also free of jamming. At 1233, 9805 has heavy jamming only; 9885 VOA Spanish with lite jamming pulses; 9955 WRMI and 9965 República totally blocked by walls of noise. At 1236, VOA Spanish on 13715 without jamming but abutting REE Spanish 13720; at 1242, 15590 VOA Spanish also jamming-free. Expect VOA Spanish to shift one UT hour later in morning and evening from Nov 7, for the convenience of Washington after DST, not the listeners (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GUATEMALA. 4052.5-, R. Verdad stays slightly on the low side, Nov 2 at 0537 with Spanish talk, presumably sermon. What about the English hymns during this final nightly hour? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. 9526-, Nov 2 at 1327, VOI has VG signal but hum/whine is worse than usual, plus the IADs they cannot or will not get rid of. Concluding Today in History segment, something about Levelland TX. 1328 ID as network program between Jakarta and RRI Banjarmasin, i.e. Tuesdays` Exotic Indonesia excursion.
This time the Jak YL addressed the Banj guy with a name sounding like ``Fator``, and he called her ``Rachma``, no idea about correct spelling of either. 1329 ``Focus`` quotes Democratic Voice of Burma about Myanmar uranium mining and nuclear weapons technology, despite being a signatory to the IAEA non-proliferation treaty.
1333 over to Banj for a program about traditional dances, starting with one performed at a local Islamic conference. Pre-recorded scripted talk read by YL identifying some traditional dances of South Kalimantan, with lots of unfamiliar Indonesian names, and far too much talk, far too little music exemplifying them. 1349 to a song by a YL chosen by Fator (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MOROCCO. 15341+, RTM still off-frequency Nov 2 at 1241 with Arabic vocal music, no het to make it obvious. Two hours later at 1445-1501*, Harold Frodge in MI heard on 15341.15 ``alternating commentaries in German, Hebrew, Arabic and French``, which would be news for this station! Probably some token stuff relayed from domestic service (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** RUSSIA [and non]. 9695, Nov 2 at 1218, VORWS ID, program about popular march music, for military parades thru WWII, Nov 7, 1941 being a key date. Lots of neat musical clips. Fair with flutter, some CCI; at 1230 news headlines starting with the South Kuril Islands flap, Japanese ambassador recalled, and now the CCI is Sakura!
The day before, I tuned across a 9695 English broadcast and assumed it was R. Japan. In fact, NHK is scheduled for English at 1200-1230 to SE Asia, then Thai, but VOR is also on 9695 in English at 12-13 via Samara, 250 kW, 140 degrees for S Asia, too close for comfort (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN. 9690, strong open carrier at 0408 Nov 2; from 0410 REE IS which will drive you nuts if you axually listen to it for 5 minutes straight. They need to add some variations, like Turkey or Serbia. 0415 opening Emisión Sefarad, usual YL giving schedule as Mon 1425 on 15385, UT Tue 0115 on 11780, 0415 on 9690. Rest of the semihour show was mostly music, enjoyable.
I missed checking the 0115 to South America, so will have to wait another week. That broadcast was absent for half of A-10, due to some oversight at Noblejas until my repeated inquiries got through; then it came back on 11795, but if it`s really on 11780 now, it will be colliding with Brasília. I also made requests for monitoring of this from South America, but there was absolutely no interest.
Still seeking the new Basque program from REE, Nov 2 at 1323 check on 15170 via Costa Rica --- no, it`s still in Spanish, mixing with Romania.
Yimber Gaviría found an REE page with details on the new programming,
via http://bit.ly/aa61JJ but the times are local UT +1 --- is this really an exterior or an interior station? It claims Basque is at 1405 (1305 UT), so maybe they have just not initiated it yet --- plus word of adding a quarter-hour of news in 5 languages:
``Más información en todos los idiomas --- A la parrilla de REE se incorpora, además, un informativo en euskera, que ofrecerá, todos los días, de lunes a viernes desde las 14:05 horas, la emisora autonómica vasca.
Además, a partir de las 16:30 horas habrá un informativo de 15 minutos que se realizará con pequeños boletines en los distintos idiomas en los que Radio Exterior de España emite. Aparte del español: francés, inglés, árabe, ruso y portugués.``
So I was monitoring 17595, best here, Nov 2 at 1530 UT, and the latter has indeed started, ``Noticias en idiomas del mundo``, starting with Portuguese, 1534 French, 1537:25 English with Allison Hughes, including Oklahomans voting whether to ban sharia law, 1541 Arabic, 1544 outro also mentioning Russian before Arabic, but there was none today. REE`s distinctive three-note-rising stingers inserted between each headline. If they cram 5 languages into 14 minutes instead of 4, that obviously will mean an average of only 2.8 minutes each including the time-consuming and wasteful stingers (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TURKEY. Trying VOT`s new 9655 for English to North America a second night, UT Nov 2 at 0408: very poor and can`t even be sure the signal there is in English or from Turkey; again eclipsed by 9660 Vatican via Madagascar, which if I understood Amharic would be armchair copy. Will TRT doggedly stick to this useless frequency for the rest of B-10? To change it and regain listeners would be to admit one had made a mistake; which is more important? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [non?]. 17740, VOA Portuguese underway Nov 2 at 1703, while it was missing yesterday until later in the hour. Extremely strong signal, and splattering at least plus/minus 15 kHz. So far I have not managed to intune before 1700 in case there be a clue as to site really in use, i.e. a note or two of the RCI IS, but scheduled as Sackville instead of Greenville (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also CUBA [and non]
** U S A. As I have been outpointing, 1200 UT is the official local sunrise time in Orangeburg SC for November, but apparently WPJK has not heard about it. Tune in 3160 at 1158 Nov 2 and it`s already on with music; so still signing on at 1130? Must resume checking that early. 1159 announcement, 1200 train whistles, gospel music; T-storm noise from offshore TX & LA, and/or northern MS, prevented much copy (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. MW DX on DX-398 with internal antenna; prime references NRC AM Log, and NRC Pattern Book:
720, still looking for KDWN Las Vegas NV, Nov 2 at 1315 UT, no sign of it, just the SAH typical of KSAH vs WGN. I am monitoring again at 1415 which is when KDWN is authorized to switch to non-direxional day pattern. I do hear a weak signal now but cannot be sure it is not just WGN, and hard to DF; a slower subaudible heterodyne does point to something other than WGN/KSAH in the mix.
880, Nov 2 at 1306, Imus from E/W vs KRVN from the N/S, i.e. KLRG Arkansas per http://www.imus.com/station-list/category/arkansas which shows him at 5-9 am CT.
1210, Nov 2 at 1310, local news mentioning Huron, 1311 clips of South Dakota gubernatorial and other candidates; 1313 outro with ID as ``Dakota Country 1210, KOKK, news director Zack Nelson(?)``. Huron is in east central SD, nowhere near a Great Lake; seems KOKK has a good local news department thanks to him.
It`s easy at the moment, nulling KGYN. Day power is 5 kW, night 900 watts. Official Huron sunrise in Nov is not until 1330 UT, while in Oct it was 1245. Day pattern has a deep null northwards, broad lobe to SE but plenty also to S, while nite pattern has deep null toward Philadelphia, broad lobe to NW but some also to S. Has CP for similar patterns. NRC lists no PSRA, but this signal suggests it was on day power and pattern early.
1300, Nov 2 at 1318, ``perfect weather for voting`` frosty at 27 degrees, but climbing; DF for N/S, but at that temp I`ll pick north. Faded before any further clues. Most likely 5 kW KBRL McCook NE which has a lobe our way, if not non-direxional 5 kW KOLY Mobridge SD.
1350, Nov 2 at 1257 UT, ID as 1350 KMAN, Manhattan (Kansas), plug for community calendar at http://1350kman.com and also had a low het from NW/SE; at 1259 a Fox Sports Radio from NW/SE, presumably KDZA Pueblo CO.
1370, Nov 2 at 1406, ``Fox 1370, The Right Choice``, plugging Ingraham and Hannity shows; Google hits point instead to ``Talk 1370, The Right Choice,`` for Austin TX market, KJCE Rollingwood, which has a broad northward lobe. Program guide:
http://www.talkradio1370am.com/pages/402107.php
(Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. TP MW carrier search Nov 2: from 1242 UT upward in LSB mode on DX-398: 747, 828. 1244 downward in USB mode: 1422, 1332, 1242, 1179, 1134, 1116, 1044, 972, 828, 774. 972, no doubt KOREA SOUTH, seemed a bit stronger than the other traces, but not enough for audio (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 1560, Nov 2 at 1255 UT, one station here is off-frequency enough to make a rumbling low het; seems to peak NNE/SSW, making KLNG Council Bluffs IA or KZQQ Abilene TX the prime suspects, while dominant signal was KGOW Bellaire TX (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###