** ANTARCTICA. 15476, Feb 25 at 1355 and 1425 chex, not even a carrier, so LRA36 apparently did not meet its target date for reactivation. Maybe Monday Feb 28? Assuming its schedule will again be M-F 12-15. Should also check for it at other hours including previously used 18-21, so I did at 2032 Feb 25: nothing, altho 15345 had a hefty het between Argentina and Morocco. Back At 1355, weak signal on 15480, presumably Turkey about to close. Also beware of an unID and unlisted transmitter on 15475 which Ron Howard heard recently (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also CYPRUS [non]
** AUSTRALIA. 15400, Feb 25 at 1355 hymn, 1356 W&M speaking Chinese, ergo HCJB Kununurra making a rare appearance via longpath. And also on 15340 as a big het against Morocco 15341 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. 7290, Feb 25 at 1145, Chinese language lesson, urok presented in Russian, VG signal, per Aoki is CRI, 500 kW, 37 degrees from Shijiazhuang site for DVR, but also USward. Aoki also shows CNR1 on 7290, 100 kW, 222 degrees from Beijing 572 site. Do CNR1 and CRI really operate co-channel? No sign of any QRM. There are many other such internally conflicting registrations (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake, Feb 25:
8400, VG but fluttery at 1147; no Sound of Hope or anything else audible under, even during brief pauses in music. Gone at 1209 check.
10300, JBA at 1154. No others encountered in bandscans during next four hours (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA [and non]. 7540, Feb 25 at 1513 oscillating whoop-whoop jammer against something in Chinese. BBCWS Chinese is here a bit longer, to be terminated in one month on March 25, M-F 1300-1530, 250 kW, 20 degrees from THAILAND, but unfortunately overlaps a semihour with V. of Mesopotamia via Ukraine, which ought to stay on 11530 thirty minutes longer at least on weekdays. The Chinese I heard had an echo, so presumably additional CNR1 jamming rather than BBC (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** COLOMBIA. 6035, Feb 25 at 1117, bits of rather distorted Spanish on peaks, vs bleed from 6030 DentroCuban Jamming Command; presumed La Voz del Guaviare, known to be active, and which I never hear during my preferred monitoring windows earlier and later (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CYPRUS [non]. 15478-15503, OTH radar pulses, presumed from here, Feb 25 at 1426, uncomfortably close to the LRA36 frequency 15476, q.v.
13855-13880, OTH radar pulses, also presumed from here, Feb 25 at 1503 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GUAM. 5765-USB, AFN still missing another day, Feb 25 at 1228 and some later chex (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GUATEMALA. 4052.5-, R. Verdad, Feb 25 is on earlier than sometimes, at 1124 with sermon in English mentioning Jesus Christ, resurrexion. 1130 outro of `Thru the Bible Radio` with program contact info. 1131 local ID in English as Radio Truth, asking for reports and offering banner and QSL, accompanied by organ(?) music. Then hymn medley, local performance? With small choir and piano, such as `Blessèd Lord Jesus`, `Softly & Tenderly`, `Faith of our Fathers`, 1139 `He Walks with Me`.
S9+12, SIO 333, BFO helps; it`s atop a lite het from 4050, probably KWMO x 3, and with not very tight unmodified FRG-7 selectivity, after 1130 also some USB from the 4045 marine weather net based in Florida. Fortunately, the bonker around 4040 was far enough away.
Recheck at 1156, still audible with `Let My People Go`, 1202 `Swing Low, Sweet Chariot`. BTW, at this hour, TGAV had a better signal than the finale of BBC Mundo in Spanish on WHRI 9410! see UK [non]. 1222 still playing hymns but weakening vs the 4050 het.
BTW, with such specific program details, I am more interested in documenting what I heard than suppressing info in order to thwart phony QSL-hunters. DXers are hereby notified that they are on their honor to pick up and report the station themselves; and station QSLers are equally on notice to beware of false reports suspiciously matching mine (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** HAWAII. Besides THAILAND [q.v.] as I was tuning down from 9765 to 5765, Feb 25 at 1229, I also passed a US marine weather broadcast on 8764.5 in the usual distorted SSB transmission --- is anyone paying attention? Any ham running overdriven SSB like that would be ashamed, and quickly advised of it by his peers. Did not hang around to ID it, or pin down the frequency but seemed 8764.5 instead of 8764.0, as listed here:
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/marine/hfvoice.htm
for three US Coast Guard stations, NMN Chesapeake VA, NMC Pt Reyes CA, and NMO Honolulu. Schedule does not show end times, but the one starting most recently at 1200 is NMO, so presumed this (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** HONDURAS [and non]. 3250.0, Feb 25 at 1223, weak Spanish, no doubt HRPC, with SAH, no doubt Korea North, both very close to nominal frequency, and matching MW 1250 stations (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDIA. 4895, Feb 20 at 1327, best of several weak 60m frequencies matching AIR outlets, YL in S Asian language past 1330. Was hoping for an English newscast. Probably AIR Kurseong with Kolkata programming. I was thinking this had been reported slightly off, but measured right on 4895.0 now. Only other possibility is Mongolia. Most AIR stations have a long English newscast at 1530 but that is too late for us in deep North America (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. 3325, Feb 25 at 1316, usual Indonesian chat show, ergo RRI Palangkaraya, peaking now after sunrise, as not much audible an hour earlier. 1332 still going with conversation.
3345, at 1334 talking going to music while 3325 is also in, so I presume RRI Ternate, rather than PNG Poppondetta believed inactive.
Right after first getting 3325, checked 4750 for RRI Makassar, Feb 25 at 1317, YL song, CCI from second carrier slightly offset, 1322 announcements after heavy-beat rock, 1325 kids` voices, ads? S9+20 but fighting the hi local noise level, which I fear prevents my hearing the other more exotic 60m Indonesians (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. 9526-, VOI is back in force, after missing three mornings in a row. Feb 25 at 1152, VG signal with music marred by IADs, Chinese? 1218 check, in usual slow Japanese, talking about Brunei Darussalam, IADs. I was too busy logging lots of other stuff to check during the 1300 English hour, or 1400 Indonesian, but at 1508 I found 9526- still on with the bonus broadcast on borrowed time in English: YL with news, lite het, lite hum, not too many IADs. 1511 `Commentary` about Libya, call off the mercenaries, etc. 9680 RRI had gone off by now. 1514 `Today in History` including something about Nasser in 1964, Marcos later. Just as TiH was ending, cut off the air at 1518:25* (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ISRAEL [and non]. 13850, Feb 25 at 1502 poor in Persian from Kol Israel, 250 kW, 90 degrees from Tel Aviv-Yafne, plus a low het. Could be Iranian jamming, but per Aoki, Sound of Hope may also be here 21 hours a day, and consequently ChiCom jamming. Did not seem to be Firedrake (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ITALY [non]. No one heard the publicized IRRS test on 5775 (not 5975, apparently) on Feb 24, and Ron Norton now says that had to be canceled at last minute due to ``technical problems``. Instead, they are testing Feb 25-27 at 18-20 on 9435 to Europe, reports wanted. That presumably includes WORLD OF RADIO Saturday at 1900, but it`s not clear whether they are still using Slovakia 6090 as well. They will continue on MW axually from Italy, 1368 and 1566.
I checked 9435 at 1900 Feb 25, and heard only a very weak carrier, but certainly not for NAm, anyway. Presumably the new frequency will replace the Slovakia site about to close. Wolfgang Büschel thought Gavar, Armenia would be most likely on 5775. It`s up to astute monitors to figure out the real sites, since Ron also says,
``Some of you asked about TX location, however: it is our policy that while we always make public the target area(s), the exact transmitter location(s) may change over time, and always remains strictly confidential.`` Nevertheless, WRTH 2011 says it has been: SLOVAKIA.
An additional test is 0930-1230 on 9510 to Europe, Feb 25 and 28 (Friday and Monday). IRRS was already running 9510 at 09-13 Sat & Sun, presumably Slovakia so far (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KOREA NORTH [non]. 5985, quick check Feb 25 at 1413 amid LIBYA and other monitoring, to reconfirm that Shiokaze is still here and in English on Friday, along with het from MYANMAR (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KUWAIT. 21540, Feb 25 at 1357 fair signal in Arabic, 1459 ID, mentions of Islamiyah, no CCI from SPAIN now which may be off, tho still on 21570, 21610, q.v. (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** LIBYA. V. of Africa monitoring Friday Feb 25, for the scheduled 1400-1600 English on 17725, 21695:
1405 tune-in, no signal on 21695, and Spain is JBA on 21610, 21570, but I still think Libya is not on the air. 17725 at 1406 but not in English, think it`s Swahili, talking about Africa, Fatah.
1408, 17725 goes to open carrier, 1410 English ID beginning late, drumming, usual pompous announcer, says something about ``ending the conflict``, mentions 9-9-99, a significant date? Yes: see below. Rough copy with deep fades. 1412 YL ID and drumming. 1414, frequency announcement claiming this is ``17850``. 1424, 17725 is even weaker during music. Still nothing on 21695. Break for breakfast.
1457, 17725 is too weak to copy, and no 21695, tho Kuwait in Arabic is OK on 21540, Spain on 21570, 21610.
1520, I check 13m once again and guess what, 21660 is now on with the easily-recognizable VOA OM English announcer, instead of 21695. It cuts off the air for a split second now and then, but copy is better now than 17725. 1524 I start rolling tape --- you never know, when this could be the final broadcast, forever.
(Elsewhere on real news sources, fighting is reported west of Tripoli, which we know is not far from the Sabrata SW transmitter site on the coast about halfway between Tripoli and Tunisia.)
1524 another boring canned talk on the African Union, 1528 music; 1535 I resume listening after a phonecall, now it`s the YL speaking and copy is tough again, fading down. 1537 canned frequency announcement again, one of which is the imaginary 17850.
1543, repeat the canned frequency announcement, yes, now with BOTH of them wrong. Could it be sabotage, at the studio and/or transmitter site, to minimize listenership?? Still saying ``21695 and 17850``.
1545, ``special program on the unity of Africa, thanks to the great revolution of Al-Fatah``, history starting in 1969y; now fading in much better. 1546 mentions Nasser, Nkrumah, Mobutu, and repeatedly, ``the leader of the revolution of Al-Fatah``, presumably referring to Q`Daffy, but I never hear him mentioned by name in these talx. Is that usual? A ``declaration`` of some significance was made on 9-9-99 --- I assume in the Western calendar, tho Libya has a different one where that date would have no such numerological significance, or did they just change the names of the months and keep the numbers the same? 1555, outro program claiming ``the unity of Africa has been achieved``. Several more momentary transmitter breaks in a row during music.
1556 ID, music; 1559, closing English ``until tomorrow, Voice of Africa from the Great ---`` and modulation cut before ``Jamahiriyah``, more sabotage? Probably just usual incompetence. After a few sex of dead air, opening French, but it`s muffled and distorted, plus the music with it.
After confirming at 1604 that 17725 is still running //, I quit and start compiling today`s lengthy log report which will take a few more hours, starting with this which I am releasing in advance. Refer later to the final version in case I make any changes or additions.
Such as this: don`t know how long 21660 would stay on, and not rechecked until 1900, when there is a very weak carrier. Could be a birdie of some local source; nothing now scheduled at any time on 21660, an ex-BBC frequency (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NEW ZEALAND. 5950, Feb 25 at 1345, someYL named Russell with a contemporary blues/dixieland song, 1348 health and welfare phone numbers for Christchurch, IDs as ``Radio New Zealand`` (not National, nor International), and certainly not the Maori music show scheduled Fridays at 1330 on RNZI. Rescue stories, including a couple who managed to complete their planned marriage ceremony despite the quake. See also VATICAN [non] (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** RUSSIA [non]. Earl Higgins in MO, was hearing an unID language Feb 17 on 9965 before the V. of Russia Portuguese service at 2300 listed as via ARMENIA; nothing scheduled before then. I finally remembered to check this on Feb 24:
2255 some very weak and fluttery talk, but cannot determine the language, also with residual Cuban pulse jamming since 9965 is the R. República daytime frequency altho by now it is on 5954.2v instead; and also splatter/overload from WWCR 9980; 2259 VOR IS starts. Anyone else with better luck by now?
KHBN = T8WH Palau is also registered on 9965 from 2200 past 2300 but the two transmitters there are really on 9930 and 13590 per WHR sked, and the unID language does seem to be from the same VOR transmitter (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN. 21570 and 21610, REE, Feb 25 at 1458 with BFO on I notice that both signals are slightly unstable, unusual for Noblejas. I am reluctant to report as such, since who am I to say my FRG-7 BFO is more stable than their 350 kW transmitters --- except, I compare to e.g. Sackville 9610, and other 13m frequencies, and their pitch does not vary a bit, unlike 21570 and 21610, warbling slightly. It could also be caused by Doppler effect thru the ionosphere, except in this case there is no significant fading. It might also be caused by extremely strong signals overloading my receiver, but these are not. It would be nice if some other monitors took note of these and other apparently unstable transmitters. They are easy to see with Perseus (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SRI LANKA. 12130, Feb 25 at 1429, fluttery signal in Vietnamese, 1430 mentioning Washington. Is R. Free Asia, Iranawila, 14-15, 250 kW, 73 degrees. No jamming noted; do the VietCom ever try? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SRI LANKA [and non]. 13585-13590-13595, DRM noise mixing with musical AM modulation, Feb 25 at 1431, still at 1505. Scheduled as BBC, or is it DW? Via Trincomalee, 1400-1658, 90 kW, 5 degrees, versus CVC ZAMBIA, 100 kW AM, 315 degrees USward. Great coördination! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** THAILAND. 6765-USB, Feb 25 at 1229 I have zero beat 9765 REE/CR in order to be tuned right on AFN Guam 5765-USB, which is not heard, and as I am tuning down in 1.000-MHz steps, I hear a bit of music on 6765! No doubt it`s Bangkok Meteorological Radio, one of those rare utilities which does play music/IS along with its quasi-broadcasts. Very poor signal, and nothing further heard in next few minutes, so either faded or in a break. Not listed in Aoki, but EiBi is more amenable to utility stations, showing it has 2-hour broadcasts in English and Thai thruout the day, separated by 1-hour breaks. Their other frequency is 8743, both deserving deliberate pursuit. I don`t see BMR in WRTH 2011, tho it seems like it used to be? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U K [non]. There had been lots of publicity among Spanish DX groups lamenting that BBC Mundo would make its final shortwave broadcast on Feb 25, 1200-1215 via WHRI 9410 and Guiana French 11860. Since I was awake, I made a point of catching it. Thought about taping it, but would have to get out of bed to find my patchcord, so never mind: anyway, it`s available online! Per Horacio Nigro, at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/mundo/servicios/2009/03/000000_podcast.shtml
for a while, anyway. At the outset, both 9410 and 11860 were rather weak, 11860 slightly better despite 25m having been virtually dead a few minutes earlier, except for plenty of Anguilla 11775, and a bit of WEWN on 12050.
At 1200, anchor Claudio Rojas mentioned that this would be the last broadcast after 63(?) years of BBC in Spanish. At 1209, 9410 still weak and fadey. At 1213 they were really despeding themselves, also from Miami bureau, someone named Álvarez; said they will still produce a weekly podcast in Spanish on jueves. After seven decades, ``Desde Londres, Claudio Rojas les dice, hasta siempre``. (``Until forever``, the Spanish way of saying a final farewell). A long play of the beeping BBC news sounder, and 1215 cut to English, joining in progress news of, Libya! Only now has the 9410 signal built up to good strength.
Of much less note, this was probably also the final BBCWS SW broadcast in English from and to ANY part of the Americas, M-F 1215-1300, which has always seemed to be nothing but fill for the rest of the hour. BBC is also canceling its specific Caribbean service in English, but not for another month, and it`s extremely strange that they never bothered to put it on these SW frequencies when they were available. We`ll have to check next week whether the 12-13 M-F transmission is still on the air only in regular BBCWS English on either frequency (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 17740, big open carrier with some hum, Feb 25 at 1521 and still/again at 1604, presumably IBB Greenville warming up for 1700 transmission (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WWRB on new 2390 // 5050 during WORLD OF RADIO 1553, UT Friday Feb 25 at 0433, after announcement by Dave Frantz asking for reports, saying results on 2390 have been very good. Here, it`s much better than 5050. I check the webcast at 0500 when WOR should still be on, having started late, but that is already in Bible-readings. I assume our program was allowed to finish on at least one of the SW frequencies, as it did once before on 3185 when this happened.
Dave says he plans to bring 3215 back on shortly with station promotions, and will run 2390 all-night. However, not yet, as it was off at 0604 check.
George McClintock tells me that WWCR left 2390 about a decade ago because there were not enough receivers tuning that band, and because of ``ducting`` causing the signal to reach Australia, but not much in North America beyond 500 miles; up to 500 miles, it was great. As for receivers, where the signal is extremely strong, and where there are cheap AM radios, this should break thru as a 2xIF image on 1480 or 1490 --- a deliberate tactic of the late, lamented Radio Huayacocotla, Veracruz, México when it was on 2390 and denied a real MW frequency. Of course, there are plenty of stations in USA on 1480 and 1490 already (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 1320, Feb 25 at 1400 UT, checking out the Spanish unID, but by this hour a US station in English is dominant, KOLT ID, and KOLT.com, into Fox News Radio, looping NW/SE, from Scottsbluff NE. 1403 cut to local weather, hi 19, lo 9 [F], the ``Hometown Family Radio News forecast``, 1404 mentions west Nebraska.
KOLT used to be in Spanish on weekends only, and noted as such in NRC AM Log 2010-2011, but their website which is really http://www.koltam.com now says ESPN Radio on weekends, instead of farrightwingnuts weekdays, such as Glenn Beck calling George Soros a Communist at final check 1420. Also shows new(?) slogan I have not yet heard spoken, `The Talk of Wyobraska` --- I guess that`s sexier than `Neoming` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 1530, Feb 25 at 1310 UT rock music, and DJ announces ``no school today at Northern Valley``, repeated. Name is a bit generic but let`s hope for some good Google hits. Yes: near the top of 39,300 of them is this: http://www.nvhuskies.org/ which is in the small town of Almena KS, Norton County, along the Nebraska border, and guess what, there is a 1 kW/500 W psra 1530 in Norton, KQNK, so that`s it! Strangely enough, the Northern Valley website has nothing about school being canceled; they should listen to KQNK like I do. Temps very low (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** VATICAN [non]. After so much effort on my part to get schedule-providers to show Vatican Radio correctly as Spanish instead of English at 1200 on 9865 via Sackville, including the latest WRTH Update --- NOW, it`s back to English! As it should be, of course, according to VR`s own schedule. Maybe my frequent and latest reports about this finally got back to HQ and/or Montréal and/or Sackville.
9865, Feb 25 at 1149, Spanish is weak suffering QRDRM from NZ 9865-9870-9875. Fortunately for English listeners, that`s off at 1200 as signal is also improving. Recheck at 1209, in English re pope meeting visiting president of Lebanon (let`s see, is he mandated to be a Christian?), refers to http://www.vaticanradio.org for more info, ``this morning``.
Then NASA audio of the liftoff of Discovery (which was at 2153 UT Feb 24, including the carefully scripted hype which, as a great proponent of space exploration, I do not begrudge them). Finally mentioned again that it is ``this morning, February 25``, and plugged the saint-of-the-day, whose name I missed, but did not sound like St. Donatus, the one listed on VR`s handy slick 2011 Catholic Calendar received in the P-mail. Since it`s now 13:12 in The City/State, I suppose this was a playback of one of the earlier shows, perhaps the 0250 UT to North America previously relayed by Sackville, and which had been bumped for months by a playback of the longer broadcast in Spanish. Now, will the 1200 English stick? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. Tran-Pacific MW carrier bandscan just before sunrise Feb 25 at 1255, in USB mode on DX-398: 594, 648, 747, 774, 828, 972, 1566, not in that order. At 1302 detected 1593, 1566, 1134, 1053, 972 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 1320, Kirk Allen in OK asked me to check out his unID Spanish as ``La Poderosa`` but never any real ID, which he has been getting as late as 1500 UT, so he thinx it`s likely a domestic rather than a Mexican such as XECPN in Piedras Negras, Coahuila, which sometimes uses that slogan. I`m not sure where that info comes from, as not shown as such in WRTH 2011 or IRCA 2010, but rather Radio Noticias, ergo a news format rather than music.
Feb 25 I start checking at 1250 UT and 1320 has Spanish music dominating, and hard to null for a fix. At 1253 announcer mentions ``7 minutos``, a timecheck before some hour or other, not caught; heavy CCI. 1308 music and DJ, and now it seems to be coming from the bearing of Piedras Negras or vicinity. Chex at 1400 and later brought only Americans in English such as KOLT; see U S A (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
** AUSTRALIA. 15400, Feb 25 at 1355 hymn, 1356 W&M speaking Chinese, ergo HCJB Kununurra making a rare appearance via longpath. And also on 15340 as a big het against Morocco 15341 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. 7290, Feb 25 at 1145, Chinese language lesson, urok presented in Russian, VG signal, per Aoki is CRI, 500 kW, 37 degrees from Shijiazhuang site for DVR, but also USward. Aoki also shows CNR1 on 7290, 100 kW, 222 degrees from Beijing 572 site. Do CNR1 and CRI really operate co-channel? No sign of any QRM. There are many other such internally conflicting registrations (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake, Feb 25:
8400, VG but fluttery at 1147; no Sound of Hope or anything else audible under, even during brief pauses in music. Gone at 1209 check.
10300, JBA at 1154. No others encountered in bandscans during next four hours (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA [and non]. 7540, Feb 25 at 1513 oscillating whoop-whoop jammer against something in Chinese. BBCWS Chinese is here a bit longer, to be terminated in one month on March 25, M-F 1300-1530, 250 kW, 20 degrees from THAILAND, but unfortunately overlaps a semihour with V. of Mesopotamia via Ukraine, which ought to stay on 11530 thirty minutes longer at least on weekdays. The Chinese I heard had an echo, so presumably additional CNR1 jamming rather than BBC (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** COLOMBIA. 6035, Feb 25 at 1117, bits of rather distorted Spanish on peaks, vs bleed from 6030 DentroCuban Jamming Command; presumed La Voz del Guaviare, known to be active, and which I never hear during my preferred monitoring windows earlier and later (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CYPRUS [non]. 15478-15503, OTH radar pulses, presumed from here, Feb 25 at 1426, uncomfortably close to the LRA36 frequency 15476, q.v.
13855-13880, OTH radar pulses, also presumed from here, Feb 25 at 1503 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GUAM. 5765-USB, AFN still missing another day, Feb 25 at 1228 and some later chex (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GUATEMALA. 4052.5-, R. Verdad, Feb 25 is on earlier than sometimes, at 1124 with sermon in English mentioning Jesus Christ, resurrexion. 1130 outro of `Thru the Bible Radio` with program contact info. 1131 local ID in English as Radio Truth, asking for reports and offering banner and QSL, accompanied by organ(?) music. Then hymn medley, local performance? With small choir and piano, such as `Blessèd Lord Jesus`, `Softly & Tenderly`, `Faith of our Fathers`, 1139 `He Walks with Me`.
S9+12, SIO 333, BFO helps; it`s atop a lite het from 4050, probably KWMO x 3, and with not very tight unmodified FRG-7 selectivity, after 1130 also some USB from the 4045 marine weather net based in Florida. Fortunately, the bonker around 4040 was far enough away.
Recheck at 1156, still audible with `Let My People Go`, 1202 `Swing Low, Sweet Chariot`. BTW, at this hour, TGAV had a better signal than the finale of BBC Mundo in Spanish on WHRI 9410! see UK [non]. 1222 still playing hymns but weakening vs the 4050 het.
BTW, with such specific program details, I am more interested in documenting what I heard than suppressing info in order to thwart phony QSL-hunters. DXers are hereby notified that they are on their honor to pick up and report the station themselves; and station QSLers are equally on notice to beware of false reports suspiciously matching mine (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** HAWAII. Besides THAILAND [q.v.] as I was tuning down from 9765 to 5765, Feb 25 at 1229, I also passed a US marine weather broadcast on 8764.5 in the usual distorted SSB transmission --- is anyone paying attention? Any ham running overdriven SSB like that would be ashamed, and quickly advised of it by his peers. Did not hang around to ID it, or pin down the frequency but seemed 8764.5 instead of 8764.0, as listed here:
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/marine/hfvoice.htm
for three US Coast Guard stations, NMN Chesapeake VA, NMC Pt Reyes CA, and NMO Honolulu. Schedule does not show end times, but the one starting most recently at 1200 is NMO, so presumed this (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** HONDURAS [and non]. 3250.0, Feb 25 at 1223, weak Spanish, no doubt HRPC, with SAH, no doubt Korea North, both very close to nominal frequency, and matching MW 1250 stations (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDIA. 4895, Feb 20 at 1327, best of several weak 60m frequencies matching AIR outlets, YL in S Asian language past 1330. Was hoping for an English newscast. Probably AIR Kurseong with Kolkata programming. I was thinking this had been reported slightly off, but measured right on 4895.0 now. Only other possibility is Mongolia. Most AIR stations have a long English newscast at 1530 but that is too late for us in deep North America (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. 3325, Feb 25 at 1316, usual Indonesian chat show, ergo RRI Palangkaraya, peaking now after sunrise, as not much audible an hour earlier. 1332 still going with conversation.
3345, at 1334 talking going to music while 3325 is also in, so I presume RRI Ternate, rather than PNG Poppondetta believed inactive.
Right after first getting 3325, checked 4750 for RRI Makassar, Feb 25 at 1317, YL song, CCI from second carrier slightly offset, 1322 announcements after heavy-beat rock, 1325 kids` voices, ads? S9+20 but fighting the hi local noise level, which I fear prevents my hearing the other more exotic 60m Indonesians (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. 9526-, VOI is back in force, after missing three mornings in a row. Feb 25 at 1152, VG signal with music marred by IADs, Chinese? 1218 check, in usual slow Japanese, talking about Brunei Darussalam, IADs. I was too busy logging lots of other stuff to check during the 1300 English hour, or 1400 Indonesian, but at 1508 I found 9526- still on with the bonus broadcast on borrowed time in English: YL with news, lite het, lite hum, not too many IADs. 1511 `Commentary` about Libya, call off the mercenaries, etc. 9680 RRI had gone off by now. 1514 `Today in History` including something about Nasser in 1964, Marcos later. Just as TiH was ending, cut off the air at 1518:25* (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ISRAEL [and non]. 13850, Feb 25 at 1502 poor in Persian from Kol Israel, 250 kW, 90 degrees from Tel Aviv-Yafne, plus a low het. Could be Iranian jamming, but per Aoki, Sound of Hope may also be here 21 hours a day, and consequently ChiCom jamming. Did not seem to be Firedrake (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ITALY [non]. No one heard the publicized IRRS test on 5775 (not 5975, apparently) on Feb 24, and Ron Norton now says that had to be canceled at last minute due to ``technical problems``. Instead, they are testing Feb 25-27 at 18-20 on 9435 to Europe, reports wanted. That presumably includes WORLD OF RADIO Saturday at 1900, but it`s not clear whether they are still using Slovakia 6090 as well. They will continue on MW axually from Italy, 1368 and 1566.
I checked 9435 at 1900 Feb 25, and heard only a very weak carrier, but certainly not for NAm, anyway. Presumably the new frequency will replace the Slovakia site about to close. Wolfgang Büschel thought Gavar, Armenia would be most likely on 5775. It`s up to astute monitors to figure out the real sites, since Ron also says,
``Some of you asked about TX location, however: it is our policy that while we always make public the target area(s), the exact transmitter location(s) may change over time, and always remains strictly confidential.`` Nevertheless, WRTH 2011 says it has been: SLOVAKIA.
An additional test is 0930-1230 on 9510 to Europe, Feb 25 and 28 (Friday and Monday). IRRS was already running 9510 at 09-13 Sat & Sun, presumably Slovakia so far (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KOREA NORTH [non]. 5985, quick check Feb 25 at 1413 amid LIBYA and other monitoring, to reconfirm that Shiokaze is still here and in English on Friday, along with het from MYANMAR (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KUWAIT. 21540, Feb 25 at 1357 fair signal in Arabic, 1459 ID, mentions of Islamiyah, no CCI from SPAIN now which may be off, tho still on 21570, 21610, q.v. (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** LIBYA. V. of Africa monitoring Friday Feb 25, for the scheduled 1400-1600 English on 17725, 21695:
1405 tune-in, no signal on 21695, and Spain is JBA on 21610, 21570, but I still think Libya is not on the air. 17725 at 1406 but not in English, think it`s Swahili, talking about Africa, Fatah.
1408, 17725 goes to open carrier, 1410 English ID beginning late, drumming, usual pompous announcer, says something about ``ending the conflict``, mentions 9-9-99, a significant date? Yes: see below. Rough copy with deep fades. 1412 YL ID and drumming. 1414, frequency announcement claiming this is ``17850``. 1424, 17725 is even weaker during music. Still nothing on 21695. Break for breakfast.
1457, 17725 is too weak to copy, and no 21695, tho Kuwait in Arabic is OK on 21540, Spain on 21570, 21610.
1520, I check 13m once again and guess what, 21660 is now on with the easily-recognizable VOA OM English announcer, instead of 21695. It cuts off the air for a split second now and then, but copy is better now than 17725. 1524 I start rolling tape --- you never know, when this could be the final broadcast, forever.
(Elsewhere on real news sources, fighting is reported west of Tripoli, which we know is not far from the Sabrata SW transmitter site on the coast about halfway between Tripoli and Tunisia.)
1524 another boring canned talk on the African Union, 1528 music; 1535 I resume listening after a phonecall, now it`s the YL speaking and copy is tough again, fading down. 1537 canned frequency announcement again, one of which is the imaginary 17850.
1543, repeat the canned frequency announcement, yes, now with BOTH of them wrong. Could it be sabotage, at the studio and/or transmitter site, to minimize listenership?? Still saying ``21695 and 17850``.
1545, ``special program on the unity of Africa, thanks to the great revolution of Al-Fatah``, history starting in 1969y; now fading in much better. 1546 mentions Nasser, Nkrumah, Mobutu, and repeatedly, ``the leader of the revolution of Al-Fatah``, presumably referring to Q`Daffy, but I never hear him mentioned by name in these talx. Is that usual? A ``declaration`` of some significance was made on 9-9-99 --- I assume in the Western calendar, tho Libya has a different one where that date would have no such numerological significance, or did they just change the names of the months and keep the numbers the same? 1555, outro program claiming ``the unity of Africa has been achieved``. Several more momentary transmitter breaks in a row during music.
1556 ID, music; 1559, closing English ``until tomorrow, Voice of Africa from the Great ---`` and modulation cut before ``Jamahiriyah``, more sabotage? Probably just usual incompetence. After a few sex of dead air, opening French, but it`s muffled and distorted, plus the music with it.
After confirming at 1604 that 17725 is still running //, I quit and start compiling today`s lengthy log report which will take a few more hours, starting with this which I am releasing in advance. Refer later to the final version in case I make any changes or additions.
Such as this: don`t know how long 21660 would stay on, and not rechecked until 1900, when there is a very weak carrier. Could be a birdie of some local source; nothing now scheduled at any time on 21660, an ex-BBC frequency (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NEW ZEALAND. 5950, Feb 25 at 1345, someYL named Russell with a contemporary blues/dixieland song, 1348 health and welfare phone numbers for Christchurch, IDs as ``Radio New Zealand`` (not National, nor International), and certainly not the Maori music show scheduled Fridays at 1330 on RNZI. Rescue stories, including a couple who managed to complete their planned marriage ceremony despite the quake. See also VATICAN [non] (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** RUSSIA [non]. Earl Higgins in MO, was hearing an unID language Feb 17 on 9965 before the V. of Russia Portuguese service at 2300 listed as via ARMENIA; nothing scheduled before then. I finally remembered to check this on Feb 24:
2255 some very weak and fluttery talk, but cannot determine the language, also with residual Cuban pulse jamming since 9965 is the R. República daytime frequency altho by now it is on 5954.2v instead; and also splatter/overload from WWCR 9980; 2259 VOR IS starts. Anyone else with better luck by now?
KHBN = T8WH Palau is also registered on 9965 from 2200 past 2300 but the two transmitters there are really on 9930 and 13590 per WHR sked, and the unID language does seem to be from the same VOR transmitter (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN. 21570 and 21610, REE, Feb 25 at 1458 with BFO on I notice that both signals are slightly unstable, unusual for Noblejas. I am reluctant to report as such, since who am I to say my FRG-7 BFO is more stable than their 350 kW transmitters --- except, I compare to e.g. Sackville 9610, and other 13m frequencies, and their pitch does not vary a bit, unlike 21570 and 21610, warbling slightly. It could also be caused by Doppler effect thru the ionosphere, except in this case there is no significant fading. It might also be caused by extremely strong signals overloading my receiver, but these are not. It would be nice if some other monitors took note of these and other apparently unstable transmitters. They are easy to see with Perseus (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SRI LANKA. 12130, Feb 25 at 1429, fluttery signal in Vietnamese, 1430 mentioning Washington. Is R. Free Asia, Iranawila, 14-15, 250 kW, 73 degrees. No jamming noted; do the VietCom ever try? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SRI LANKA [and non]. 13585-13590-13595, DRM noise mixing with musical AM modulation, Feb 25 at 1431, still at 1505. Scheduled as BBC, or is it DW? Via Trincomalee, 1400-1658, 90 kW, 5 degrees, versus CVC ZAMBIA, 100 kW AM, 315 degrees USward. Great coördination! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** THAILAND. 6765-USB, Feb 25 at 1229 I have zero beat 9765 REE/CR in order to be tuned right on AFN Guam 5765-USB, which is not heard, and as I am tuning down in 1.000-MHz steps, I hear a bit of music on 6765! No doubt it`s Bangkok Meteorological Radio, one of those rare utilities which does play music/IS along with its quasi-broadcasts. Very poor signal, and nothing further heard in next few minutes, so either faded or in a break. Not listed in Aoki, but EiBi is more amenable to utility stations, showing it has 2-hour broadcasts in English and Thai thruout the day, separated by 1-hour breaks. Their other frequency is 8743, both deserving deliberate pursuit. I don`t see BMR in WRTH 2011, tho it seems like it used to be? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U K [non]. There had been lots of publicity among Spanish DX groups lamenting that BBC Mundo would make its final shortwave broadcast on Feb 25, 1200-1215 via WHRI 9410 and Guiana French 11860. Since I was awake, I made a point of catching it. Thought about taping it, but would have to get out of bed to find my patchcord, so never mind: anyway, it`s available online! Per Horacio Nigro, at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/mundo/servicios/2009/03/000000_podcast.shtml
for a while, anyway. At the outset, both 9410 and 11860 were rather weak, 11860 slightly better despite 25m having been virtually dead a few minutes earlier, except for plenty of Anguilla 11775, and a bit of WEWN on 12050.
At 1200, anchor Claudio Rojas mentioned that this would be the last broadcast after 63(?) years of BBC in Spanish. At 1209, 9410 still weak and fadey. At 1213 they were really despeding themselves, also from Miami bureau, someone named Álvarez; said they will still produce a weekly podcast in Spanish on jueves. After seven decades, ``Desde Londres, Claudio Rojas les dice, hasta siempre``. (``Until forever``, the Spanish way of saying a final farewell). A long play of the beeping BBC news sounder, and 1215 cut to English, joining in progress news of, Libya! Only now has the 9410 signal built up to good strength.
Of much less note, this was probably also the final BBCWS SW broadcast in English from and to ANY part of the Americas, M-F 1215-1300, which has always seemed to be nothing but fill for the rest of the hour. BBC is also canceling its specific Caribbean service in English, but not for another month, and it`s extremely strange that they never bothered to put it on these SW frequencies when they were available. We`ll have to check next week whether the 12-13 M-F transmission is still on the air only in regular BBCWS English on either frequency (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 17740, big open carrier with some hum, Feb 25 at 1521 and still/again at 1604, presumably IBB Greenville warming up for 1700 transmission (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WWRB on new 2390 // 5050 during WORLD OF RADIO 1553, UT Friday Feb 25 at 0433, after announcement by Dave Frantz asking for reports, saying results on 2390 have been very good. Here, it`s much better than 5050. I check the webcast at 0500 when WOR should still be on, having started late, but that is already in Bible-readings. I assume our program was allowed to finish on at least one of the SW frequencies, as it did once before on 3185 when this happened.
Dave says he plans to bring 3215 back on shortly with station promotions, and will run 2390 all-night. However, not yet, as it was off at 0604 check.
George McClintock tells me that WWCR left 2390 about a decade ago because there were not enough receivers tuning that band, and because of ``ducting`` causing the signal to reach Australia, but not much in North America beyond 500 miles; up to 500 miles, it was great. As for receivers, where the signal is extremely strong, and where there are cheap AM radios, this should break thru as a 2xIF image on 1480 or 1490 --- a deliberate tactic of the late, lamented Radio Huayacocotla, Veracruz, México when it was on 2390 and denied a real MW frequency. Of course, there are plenty of stations in USA on 1480 and 1490 already (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 1320, Feb 25 at 1400 UT, checking out the Spanish unID, but by this hour a US station in English is dominant, KOLT ID, and KOLT.com, into Fox News Radio, looping NW/SE, from Scottsbluff NE. 1403 cut to local weather, hi 19, lo 9 [F], the ``Hometown Family Radio News forecast``, 1404 mentions west Nebraska.
KOLT used to be in Spanish on weekends only, and noted as such in NRC AM Log 2010-2011, but their website which is really http://www.koltam.com now says ESPN Radio on weekends, instead of farrightwingnuts weekdays, such as Glenn Beck calling George Soros a Communist at final check 1420. Also shows new(?) slogan I have not yet heard spoken, `The Talk of Wyobraska` --- I guess that`s sexier than `Neoming` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 1530, Feb 25 at 1310 UT rock music, and DJ announces ``no school today at Northern Valley``, repeated. Name is a bit generic but let`s hope for some good Google hits. Yes: near the top of 39,300 of them is this: http://www.nvhuskies.org/ which is in the small town of Almena KS, Norton County, along the Nebraska border, and guess what, there is a 1 kW/500 W psra 1530 in Norton, KQNK, so that`s it! Strangely enough, the Northern Valley website has nothing about school being canceled; they should listen to KQNK like I do. Temps very low (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** VATICAN [non]. After so much effort on my part to get schedule-providers to show Vatican Radio correctly as Spanish instead of English at 1200 on 9865 via Sackville, including the latest WRTH Update --- NOW, it`s back to English! As it should be, of course, according to VR`s own schedule. Maybe my frequent and latest reports about this finally got back to HQ and/or Montréal and/or Sackville.
9865, Feb 25 at 1149, Spanish is weak suffering QRDRM from NZ 9865-9870-9875. Fortunately for English listeners, that`s off at 1200 as signal is also improving. Recheck at 1209, in English re pope meeting visiting president of Lebanon (let`s see, is he mandated to be a Christian?), refers to http://www.vaticanradio.org for more info, ``this morning``.
Then NASA audio of the liftoff of Discovery (which was at 2153 UT Feb 24, including the carefully scripted hype which, as a great proponent of space exploration, I do not begrudge them). Finally mentioned again that it is ``this morning, February 25``, and plugged the saint-of-the-day, whose name I missed, but did not sound like St. Donatus, the one listed on VR`s handy slick 2011 Catholic Calendar received in the P-mail. Since it`s now 13:12 in The City/State, I suppose this was a playback of one of the earlier shows, perhaps the 0250 UT to North America previously relayed by Sackville, and which had been bumped for months by a playback of the longer broadcast in Spanish. Now, will the 1200 English stick? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. Tran-Pacific MW carrier bandscan just before sunrise Feb 25 at 1255, in USB mode on DX-398: 594, 648, 747, 774, 828, 972, 1566, not in that order. At 1302 detected 1593, 1566, 1134, 1053, 972 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 1320, Kirk Allen in OK asked me to check out his unID Spanish as ``La Poderosa`` but never any real ID, which he has been getting as late as 1500 UT, so he thinx it`s likely a domestic rather than a Mexican such as XECPN in Piedras Negras, Coahuila, which sometimes uses that slogan. I`m not sure where that info comes from, as not shown as such in WRTH 2011 or IRCA 2010, but rather Radio Noticias, ergo a news format rather than music.
Feb 25 I start checking at 1250 UT and 1320 has Spanish music dominating, and hard to null for a fix. At 1253 announcer mentions ``7 minutos``, a timecheck before some hour or other, not caught; heavy CCI. 1308 music and DJ, and now it seems to be coming from the bearing of Piedras Negras or vicinity. Chex at 1400 and later brought only Americans in English such as KOLT; see U S A (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###