** AUSTRALIA. RA doing well on multi-bands, in the nightmiddle here, Jan 11 at 0625: reports on the flash-flood in Toowoomba, 0629 outroed as a special edition of the program `PM`. Listening first on 13630, and // 13690 always a bit weaker. 0630 RA generic promo including clip suggesting Assange should get a Nobel Prize; 0632 RA announces it is joining ABC News 24 TV coverage of flooding, now extending from Queensland into northern NSW. By now found even better signals on 15160, 15240, audible on 15415, 17750, and at 0640 even 9660, but an echo behind the others.
9660 is 10 kW from Brandon, usually mixing with Vatican but dominating now. Brandon is near the coast in NE Qsld, in the Townsville area, north of Rockhampton; is Brandon threatened by flooding?
John Babbis sent this story about Toowoomba, which is in SE Qsld, west of Brisbane, text and video:
http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/7854427-youtube-inland-tsunami-hits-australian-town-10-dead-72-missing
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Signs of spring? CRI showing up on 16m in the nightmiddle here. As I was checking for R. Australia, which was also audible on 17750, found CRI English poor on 17710 at 0637 with a clip briefly in Chinese; also 17740 at 0638 poor with Chinese music, then talk. I figured they might be from Kashgar, East Turkistan, but HFCC has 17710 as Beijing site, 17740 as Xi`an (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. 6010, Jan 11 at 0645, today`s RHC SNAFU: VG signal but open carrier only instead of English, also when rechecked several minutes later, while English was nominal on 6050, 6060, 6150. Tho on 15360 as usual, RHC missing from 15120 at 1413-1500+; see NIGERIA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDIA. 9575, nothing but hum, very poor signal presumed from AIR Delhi (Kingsway) site, Jan 11 at 1406, matching the pitch of the hum always infesting AIR GOS 9690 via Bengaluru which had a good signal with modulation well atop the hum (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** IRAN. 9830, Jan 11 at 1435 Arabic frequently mentioning Iran, under heavy RTTY QRM, a perpetual problem with this frequency which smart broadcasters would avoid. Yes, it is VIRI, 1430-1730 in Arabic southward from Kamalabad toward the Gulf states (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. 9525-, VOI at first thought absent Tuesday Jan 11 at 1335, then pulled a very poor signal with Banjarmasin mentioned, so at least we know that the every-Tuesday ``Exotic Indonesia`` excursion for a co-produxion with Jakarta continues. 1404 the signal had greatly improved now that it`s changed to Indonesian (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NIGERIA [and non]. 15120, since RHC broke down and was missing from its usual strong signal here, Jan 11 at 1413, leaving only a very weak station, presumably BSKSA in Bengali, I hoped to hear VON without QRM from 1500. But no sign of it then, so I moved on. 1509 recheck however, VON was on with fair signal, good modulation but carrier wobbling with BFO engaged, during news by well-spoken YL, including clip of Assange at 1511 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** RUSSIA. 6075, R. Rossii via Pet/Kam, Jan 11 at 1358 mostly motorboating, but some music audible underneath to 1400 6-pip timesignal, 5 seconds late, and carrier stayed on until 1401* as no 8GAL came thru on 6074 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN. 17595, Tuesday Jan 11 at 1342, REE is back in Basque after having been replaced by Castilian on Jan 6, for Xmas? With ETA`s latest `cease-fire`, it should have been interesting to monitor if one could understand it, scheduled M-F at 1330 on this and several other frequencies. May we assume that when REE speaks Basque, even originating from Bilbao, it is objective, or pro-central government? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** THAILAND. 7465, Jan 11 at 1330, R. Thailand chimes, ID and opening in Thai, good signal despite supersplash from WWCR 7490 and very strong WYFR 7455 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 9405, Jan 11 at 0642, WINB back to very poor signal for its new overnight broadcast (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
9660 is 10 kW from Brandon, usually mixing with Vatican but dominating now. Brandon is near the coast in NE Qsld, in the Townsville area, north of Rockhampton; is Brandon threatened by flooding?
John Babbis sent this story about Toowoomba, which is in SE Qsld, west of Brisbane, text and video:
http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/7854427-youtube-inland-tsunami-hits-australian-town-10-dead-72-missing
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Signs of spring? CRI showing up on 16m in the nightmiddle here. As I was checking for R. Australia, which was also audible on 17750, found CRI English poor on 17710 at 0637 with a clip briefly in Chinese; also 17740 at 0638 poor with Chinese music, then talk. I figured they might be from Kashgar, East Turkistan, but HFCC has 17710 as Beijing site, 17740 as Xi`an (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. 6010, Jan 11 at 0645, today`s RHC SNAFU: VG signal but open carrier only instead of English, also when rechecked several minutes later, while English was nominal on 6050, 6060, 6150. Tho on 15360 as usual, RHC missing from 15120 at 1413-1500+; see NIGERIA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDIA. 9575, nothing but hum, very poor signal presumed from AIR Delhi (Kingsway) site, Jan 11 at 1406, matching the pitch of the hum always infesting AIR GOS 9690 via Bengaluru which had a good signal with modulation well atop the hum (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** IRAN. 9830, Jan 11 at 1435 Arabic frequently mentioning Iran, under heavy RTTY QRM, a perpetual problem with this frequency which smart broadcasters would avoid. Yes, it is VIRI, 1430-1730 in Arabic southward from Kamalabad toward the Gulf states (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. 9525-, VOI at first thought absent Tuesday Jan 11 at 1335, then pulled a very poor signal with Banjarmasin mentioned, so at least we know that the every-Tuesday ``Exotic Indonesia`` excursion for a co-produxion with Jakarta continues. 1404 the signal had greatly improved now that it`s changed to Indonesian (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NIGERIA [and non]. 15120, since RHC broke down and was missing from its usual strong signal here, Jan 11 at 1413, leaving only a very weak station, presumably BSKSA in Bengali, I hoped to hear VON without QRM from 1500. But no sign of it then, so I moved on. 1509 recheck however, VON was on with fair signal, good modulation but carrier wobbling with BFO engaged, during news by well-spoken YL, including clip of Assange at 1511 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** RUSSIA. 6075, R. Rossii via Pet/Kam, Jan 11 at 1358 mostly motorboating, but some music audible underneath to 1400 6-pip timesignal, 5 seconds late, and carrier stayed on until 1401* as no 8GAL came thru on 6074 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN. 17595, Tuesday Jan 11 at 1342, REE is back in Basque after having been replaced by Castilian on Jan 6, for Xmas? With ETA`s latest `cease-fire`, it should have been interesting to monitor if one could understand it, scheduled M-F at 1330 on this and several other frequencies. May we assume that when REE speaks Basque, even originating from Bilbao, it is objective, or pro-central government? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** THAILAND. 7465, Jan 11 at 1330, R. Thailand chimes, ID and opening in Thai, good signal despite supersplash from WWCR 7490 and very strong WYFR 7455 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 9405, Jan 11 at 0642, WINB back to very poor signal for its new overnight broadcast (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###