** ALBANIA. 13640, Nov 30 at 1532, Klara opening R. Tirana broadcast after mandatory 2-minute schedule announcement, about Liberation Day Nov 29, undermodulated as usual, but almost readable with some strain. R. Tirana is well aware of the undermodulation problem, and many other listeners have complained about it. It seems the studio-transmitter feed needs to be at a low level to avoid distortion, but could it be boosted up to normal level once it gets to the Shijak transmitter? There too it may be thought necessary to ease off to avoid damaging the old units (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ANTARCTICA. 15476, ditto all my previous reports since Nov 12: no sign of a signal from LRA36, Nov 30 at 1411, 1434 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake Nov 30:
8400, JBA at 1353; nothing audible at all [NAAA] on 10500 at this time and no others found in next semihour (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. DentroCuban Jamming Command continues to run amok far beyond the hours it is ``needed`` on certain frequencies. I am hearing the same weak pulse jamming Nov 30 at 0612 on 9490, 9825, 9955 and 7365, unlike the wall of noise jamming against Martí on 6030 and 7405 (which are just pileups of multiple pulsers). Only 9955 has a victim on the air, WRMI, but totally inaudible.
9490 is R. República via RMI via Sackville which finishes at 0300. 9825 is Martí which finishes at 0100. 7365 is also Martí which finishes at 0500. Meanwhile, the electrical expense these jammers against nothing consume (let alone the jammers against something) could better be spent on the downtrodden Cuban people, forced to accept food rationing short of starvation, and numerous other privations. This merely reconfirms that for the unelected and dictatorial Cuban government, the bodies of the People are the lowest priority; keeping their minds clean of contrary ideas is paramount. Popular Revolution, my foot! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ETHIOPIA [and non]. 9560.2, lo het Nov 30 at 1356 against R. Australia in English, but it cuts off at 1357, uncovering weak Horn of Africa music, so the R. Ethiopia transmitter has varied to here today (much closer to nominal, than Nov 25 at 1355 when I found it on 9555.6). Not checked again until 1528 when the het was now marring something in Chinese.
Per Aoki and HFCC, both CRI via Kashgar, EAST TURKISTAN, and RCI via Yamata, JAPAN are in Chinese this hour on 9560! 174 and 240 degrees respectively but theoretically no collision as to different CIRAFs 41 and 44S, i.e. S Asia and SE China respectively; and I was hearing only one of them (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GUAM. 5765-USB, AFN on the air today Nov 30, at 1403 with news, 1407 still talking but can`t copy any details beneath the cable DTV box bubble jammer I am loath to unplug and later force to rescan every time I undertake a SW DX session (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GUATEMALA. 4052.5-, R. Verdad unheard lately. As of Nov 30, Dr. Madrid reports that there are further problems with the new 500 watt transmitter, so he has put the 50-watt unit back on for now (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. 9526-, now I don`t feel much sense of loss when I miss most of the Tuesday Exotic Indonesia hookups between VOI and RRI Banjarmasin --- as they refuse to fix the intermittent audio dropouts. I did tune in at 1354 Nov 30 long enough to confirm that the show did go on, with music Plus IADs, then Jak announcer and Banj guy discussing the artist (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISGTENING DIGEST)
** KOREA NORTH [non]. 5910, Shiokaze, Tuesday Nov 30 at 1408 is in Japanese, YL over sombre piano music. Sounds like she is saying ``thank you`` every so often, but maybe it`s really a similar-sounding Japanese word, like senkyu? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** LIBYA [and non]. 17800, a theme from Beethoven`s Ninth, so is it Deutsche Welle? Of course not! It`s V. of Africa`s English service to Africa, one of its perpetual musical bits, mixing about equally with German from DW via PORTUGAL to Africa, the collision continuing since last week when VOA inexplicably moved here from clear 17725.
Last time I wondered if MAQ had an issue with Germany, but it would seem not; however, he does have an issue with Switzerland, close enough? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.:
Best Columns - Europe
Switzerland: We're pioneers in crafting racist ads
Now a far-right group has upped the ante with its ads in support of a bill to automatically expel any foreigner who commits a crime, said Rachad Armanios in Le Courrier. posted on November 4, 2010, at 4:05 PM
Switzerland has rapidly become the world leader in racist political posters, said Rachad Armanios. We started last year, with the infamous billboard that persuaded the country to ban minarets. It's visually quite stunning: A forest of minarets, each one pointy as a spear and evocative of a missile, sprouts from the Swiss flag, while in the foreground a woman peers menacingly out of the eye-slits in her burqa. Then came the anti-immigration poster showing three white sheep kicking a black sheep out of the pasture.
Now a far-right group has upped the ante with its ads in support of a bill to automatically expel any foreigner who commits a crime. One poster consists of a photo of Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi and the words "He wants to destroy Switzerland" — a reference to the strained relations between Libya and Switzerland since 2008, when Qaddafi's son was arrested in Geneva for allegedly assaulting two servants. In what it called "the best interests of the state," the government has banned the Qaddafi posters. But thanks to the controversy they caused, the ads have already succeeded — everyone in Switzerland now knows what they say. The lesson is that extremist propaganda works. "In this game, democracy is taken hostage." (The Week, Nov 12, via DXLD)
** OKLAHOMA. 1690, the next chapter in the saga of Enid`s talking house transmitter: Finally the afternoon of Nov 29 I go to the address on the recording, 3509 McClaflin Drive in the SE corner of Enid. Before 2100 UT in central Enid I am hearing it as usual, tho skywave from Chicago and Denver is already coming in, making TH sound wishy-washy, i.e. unstable FMy carrier just like Greg`s units formerly on 1670. Without the QRM it sounds OK.
But a sense of foreboding increases as I approach the address --- the TH signal fades out, so nothing but the X-band stations when I am parked in front of it. There is no sign on the curb about this being a TH, but the inhabitants are home so I ring the doorbell. The gentleman who answers is rather surprised, assures me the house is not for sale, but he did buy it two years ago from Ms. Sabedra!
So this is a leftover transmitter stored somewhere else which somehow got turned back on recently, playing the old loop. Returning to central Enid I can again hear it around the intersexion of Maine and Van Buren, but now there is too much skywave. As I go further west, it is lost again. The realtor`s office is about five blox further north on VB, but a previous drive-by there did not find any signal peak.
So this presents another find-the-transmitter challenge, which needs to be conducted at low noon when there is least skywave QRM. Once I have found it, I will inform Ms Sabedra- and urge her to turn it off. My apologies to DXers everywhere else, but their chances of hearing this more than a mile away are minuscule (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TURKEY [and non]. 11815, TRT atop the CCI with SAH of ~6 Hz, Nov 30 at 1508-1516 with vocal music, sad-sounding song, as Sheref says is typically Turkish, long talk segments before and after. 320 degrees from Çakirlar to Europe, but also USward. Since it`s after 1500, the other station is Japan, not Costa Rica (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 3185, dead air/open carrier, Nov 30 at 0621, again no one minding the store at WWRB when feed from Brother Scare fails; this is hardly a complaint, but an observation (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 720, KDWN Las Vegas NV: you may recall that during October I was hearing this almost any morning from 1245 UT, as it was switching to non-direxional 50 kW day pattern one hour earlier than authorized, apparently due to confusion about the difference between PDT and PST.
In November the legal sunrise time was 1415 UT, so KDWN might have been switching at 1315 instead, but I never could hear it then, nor even at 1415, which was too far past sunrise eastward. Apparently it finally dawned on them, and resumed switching at the correct time as of Nov 1, let alone Nov 7 with the end of PDT.
I make one more try on Nov 30 at 1415, but still hear nothing but a weak mix of WGN and KSAH. LVNV axual sunrise this date is 1432 UT and will reach its latest in early January at 1452. Meanwhile, legal FCC sunrise for KDWN in December and January is 1445 UT. So possibly by late Dec it will be able to propagate briefly from 1445, but it really needs to resume switching one hour too early at 1345 to reach this far east (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 1190, Nov 30 at 1421 UT from NW/SE I am hearing siren-like sounds and other electronic music, not your average commercial radio fare, so presume it is KVCU, Boulder CO, the student-operated ``AM Revolution`` at the University of Colorado, which FCC AM Query affirms ``operates as a noncommercial educational station``, with daytime power of 6.8 kW nondirexional. November official FCC sunrise is 1345 UT, and December 1415.
By 1423 it was overtaken by a station looping N/S with a house-buying ad, 7-digit phone-number so unlikely KFXR from The Metroplex, 1424 Xmas music, maybe KVSV Beloit KS, tho its 2.3 kW lobe goes NW (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 6074, one must tune in early to catch the 8GAL CW marker for sure: Nov 30 it starts at 1359:20 with standard V/CQ message, and finishes by 1400, when I was not noticing the 6-second late timesignal normally heard as the last gasp of motorboating 6075 R. Rossii, Petropavlovsk/Kamchatsky transmitter. That stayed on a while longer versus the Chinese successor.
Tnx to Ron Howard in California who sent me a clip of 8GAL recorded at exactly the same time I was hearing it Nov 25 at 1400. I was astounded by how strong it was on Asilomar Beach, totally overriding audio from RTI (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
** ANTARCTICA. 15476, ditto all my previous reports since Nov 12: no sign of a signal from LRA36, Nov 30 at 1411, 1434 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake Nov 30:
8400, JBA at 1353; nothing audible at all [NAAA] on 10500 at this time and no others found in next semihour (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. DentroCuban Jamming Command continues to run amok far beyond the hours it is ``needed`` on certain frequencies. I am hearing the same weak pulse jamming Nov 30 at 0612 on 9490, 9825, 9955 and 7365, unlike the wall of noise jamming against Martí on 6030 and 7405 (which are just pileups of multiple pulsers). Only 9955 has a victim on the air, WRMI, but totally inaudible.
9490 is R. República via RMI via Sackville which finishes at 0300. 9825 is Martí which finishes at 0100. 7365 is also Martí which finishes at 0500. Meanwhile, the electrical expense these jammers against nothing consume (let alone the jammers against something) could better be spent on the downtrodden Cuban people, forced to accept food rationing short of starvation, and numerous other privations. This merely reconfirms that for the unelected and dictatorial Cuban government, the bodies of the People are the lowest priority; keeping their minds clean of contrary ideas is paramount. Popular Revolution, my foot! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ETHIOPIA [and non]. 9560.2, lo het Nov 30 at 1356 against R. Australia in English, but it cuts off at 1357, uncovering weak Horn of Africa music, so the R. Ethiopia transmitter has varied to here today (much closer to nominal, than Nov 25 at 1355 when I found it on 9555.6). Not checked again until 1528 when the het was now marring something in Chinese.
Per Aoki and HFCC, both CRI via Kashgar, EAST TURKISTAN, and RCI via Yamata, JAPAN are in Chinese this hour on 9560! 174 and 240 degrees respectively but theoretically no collision as to different CIRAFs 41 and 44S, i.e. S Asia and SE China respectively; and I was hearing only one of them (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GUAM. 5765-USB, AFN on the air today Nov 30, at 1403 with news, 1407 still talking but can`t copy any details beneath the cable DTV box bubble jammer I am loath to unplug and later force to rescan every time I undertake a SW DX session (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GUATEMALA. 4052.5-, R. Verdad unheard lately. As of Nov 30, Dr. Madrid reports that there are further problems with the new 500 watt transmitter, so he has put the 50-watt unit back on for now (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. 9526-, now I don`t feel much sense of loss when I miss most of the Tuesday Exotic Indonesia hookups between VOI and RRI Banjarmasin --- as they refuse to fix the intermittent audio dropouts. I did tune in at 1354 Nov 30 long enough to confirm that the show did go on, with music Plus IADs, then Jak announcer and Banj guy discussing the artist (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISGTENING DIGEST)
** KOREA NORTH [non]. 5910, Shiokaze, Tuesday Nov 30 at 1408 is in Japanese, YL over sombre piano music. Sounds like she is saying ``thank you`` every so often, but maybe it`s really a similar-sounding Japanese word, like senkyu? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** LIBYA [and non]. 17800, a theme from Beethoven`s Ninth, so is it Deutsche Welle? Of course not! It`s V. of Africa`s English service to Africa, one of its perpetual musical bits, mixing about equally with German from DW via PORTUGAL to Africa, the collision continuing since last week when VOA inexplicably moved here from clear 17725.
Last time I wondered if MAQ had an issue with Germany, but it would seem not; however, he does have an issue with Switzerland, close enough? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.:
Best Columns - Europe
Switzerland: We're pioneers in crafting racist ads
Now a far-right group has upped the ante with its ads in support of a bill to automatically expel any foreigner who commits a crime, said Rachad Armanios in Le Courrier. posted on November 4, 2010, at 4:05 PM
Switzerland has rapidly become the world leader in racist political posters, said Rachad Armanios. We started last year, with the infamous billboard that persuaded the country to ban minarets. It's visually quite stunning: A forest of minarets, each one pointy as a spear and evocative of a missile, sprouts from the Swiss flag, while in the foreground a woman peers menacingly out of the eye-slits in her burqa. Then came the anti-immigration poster showing three white sheep kicking a black sheep out of the pasture.
Now a far-right group has upped the ante with its ads in support of a bill to automatically expel any foreigner who commits a crime. One poster consists of a photo of Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi and the words "He wants to destroy Switzerland" — a reference to the strained relations between Libya and Switzerland since 2008, when Qaddafi's son was arrested in Geneva for allegedly assaulting two servants. In what it called "the best interests of the state," the government has banned the Qaddafi posters. But thanks to the controversy they caused, the ads have already succeeded — everyone in Switzerland now knows what they say. The lesson is that extremist propaganda works. "In this game, democracy is taken hostage." (The Week, Nov 12, via DXLD)
** OKLAHOMA. 1690, the next chapter in the saga of Enid`s talking house transmitter: Finally the afternoon of Nov 29 I go to the address on the recording, 3509 McClaflin Drive in the SE corner of Enid. Before 2100 UT in central Enid I am hearing it as usual, tho skywave from Chicago and Denver is already coming in, making TH sound wishy-washy, i.e. unstable FMy carrier just like Greg`s units formerly on 1670. Without the QRM it sounds OK.
But a sense of foreboding increases as I approach the address --- the TH signal fades out, so nothing but the X-band stations when I am parked in front of it. There is no sign on the curb about this being a TH, but the inhabitants are home so I ring the doorbell. The gentleman who answers is rather surprised, assures me the house is not for sale, but he did buy it two years ago from Ms. Sabedra!
So this is a leftover transmitter stored somewhere else which somehow got turned back on recently, playing the old loop. Returning to central Enid I can again hear it around the intersexion of Maine and Van Buren, but now there is too much skywave. As I go further west, it is lost again. The realtor`s office is about five blox further north on VB, but a previous drive-by there did not find any signal peak.
So this presents another find-the-transmitter challenge, which needs to be conducted at low noon when there is least skywave QRM. Once I have found it, I will inform Ms Sabedra- and urge her to turn it off. My apologies to DXers everywhere else, but their chances of hearing this more than a mile away are minuscule (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TURKEY [and non]. 11815, TRT atop the CCI with SAH of ~6 Hz, Nov 30 at 1508-1516 with vocal music, sad-sounding song, as Sheref says is typically Turkish, long talk segments before and after. 320 degrees from Çakirlar to Europe, but also USward. Since it`s after 1500, the other station is Japan, not Costa Rica (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 3185, dead air/open carrier, Nov 30 at 0621, again no one minding the store at WWRB when feed from Brother Scare fails; this is hardly a complaint, but an observation (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 720, KDWN Las Vegas NV: you may recall that during October I was hearing this almost any morning from 1245 UT, as it was switching to non-direxional 50 kW day pattern one hour earlier than authorized, apparently due to confusion about the difference between PDT and PST.
In November the legal sunrise time was 1415 UT, so KDWN might have been switching at 1315 instead, but I never could hear it then, nor even at 1415, which was too far past sunrise eastward. Apparently it finally dawned on them, and resumed switching at the correct time as of Nov 1, let alone Nov 7 with the end of PDT.
I make one more try on Nov 30 at 1415, but still hear nothing but a weak mix of WGN and KSAH. LVNV axual sunrise this date is 1432 UT and will reach its latest in early January at 1452. Meanwhile, legal FCC sunrise for KDWN in December and January is 1445 UT. So possibly by late Dec it will be able to propagate briefly from 1445, but it really needs to resume switching one hour too early at 1345 to reach this far east (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 1190, Nov 30 at 1421 UT from NW/SE I am hearing siren-like sounds and other electronic music, not your average commercial radio fare, so presume it is KVCU, Boulder CO, the student-operated ``AM Revolution`` at the University of Colorado, which FCC AM Query affirms ``operates as a noncommercial educational station``, with daytime power of 6.8 kW nondirexional. November official FCC sunrise is 1345 UT, and December 1415.
By 1423 it was overtaken by a station looping N/S with a house-buying ad, 7-digit phone-number so unlikely KFXR from The Metroplex, 1424 Xmas music, maybe KVSV Beloit KS, tho its 2.3 kW lobe goes NW (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 6074, one must tune in early to catch the 8GAL CW marker for sure: Nov 30 it starts at 1359:20 with standard V/CQ message, and finishes by 1400, when I was not noticing the 6-second late timesignal normally heard as the last gasp of motorboating 6075 R. Rossii, Petropavlovsk/Kamchatsky transmitter. That stayed on a while longer versus the Chinese successor.
Tnx to Ron Howard in California who sent me a clip of 8GAL recorded at exactly the same time I was hearing it Nov 25 at 1400. I was astounded by how strong it was on Asilomar Beach, totally overriding audio from RTI (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
