lunedì 7 febbraio 2011

Glenn Hauser logs February 6-7, 2011

** AUSTRALIA. 9660 and 9710, RA at 0704 Feb 7 with news, sounds the same, until checked on two receivers and they are not //, so 9710 must still be on the ABC Local Radio Queensland relay, post-Yasi (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHINA. 9440, Feb 7 at 1145 one of few FE signals listenable on 31m is here with Firedrake-like music, but not really, as soon breaks for announcement in Chinese. Aoki shows it`s really the Chaozhou dialect from CRI, 150 kW, 154 degrees via Kunming (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CUBA [and non]. DentroCuban Jamming Command: 9955, Feb 7 at 0705 is pulsing litely vs R. Prague via WRMI, the latter generally atop. See USA.

At 1155, now 9955 has wall-of-noise jamming, but 9965 does not. However, by 1158, pulsing is starting up on 9965, so I check R. República`s other frequency, 5954, and find no jamming or RR, just a weak carrier on 5955. By 1203, 9965 has become a WON, but we could never hear any trace of RR on it, which is usually the case.

Before 1200 Feb 7, the only Cuban signal on 49m is the Venezuelan relay on 6060; I suppose the full schedule for those remains unchanged; also reconfirmed after 12 on 11705, and after 15 on 11680.

At 1214, I am hearing RHC again on 6190, which is a leapfrog mixing product of 6000 over 6095, another 95 kHz higher, despite the fact that 6000 is the weakest of the four fundamentals during this hour, also 6140, 6150. Terry Krueger in FL also logged 6190 at 1242 Feb 6 along with the other four.

I looked for more leapfrogs, and could also hear RHC on 6160 at 1235 vs CKZU, and on 6130 at 1253. Might as well compute all the possible leapfrogs during the 12-13 hour only, from Las Cuatro Fundamentales:

5850 = 6150/6000, 150 kHz separation
5860 = 6140/6000, 140 kHz
5905 = 6095/6000,  95 kHz
6040 = 6150/6095,  55 kHz
6050 = 6140/6095,  45 kHz
6130 = 6150/6140,  10 kHz
6160 = 6140/6150,  10 kHz
6185 = 6095/6140,  45 kHz
6190 = 6000/6095,  95 kHz
6205 = 6095/6150,  55 kHz
6280 = 6000/6140, 140 kHz
6300 = 6000/6150, 150 kHz

Is that all? Yes, each frequency appears six times in one combination or another, since it would mix above and below with three other frequencies. Fortunately, any leapfrog on 6185 was inaudible vs XEPPM, nor on 6205 vs R. Free Sarawak, qq. vv.

Now, I don`t want to see anyone reporting unIDs or misIDs on those 12 channels; easy to check for // with a fundamental. If any of these be from the other transmitter site, it could not produce a mix; however, they are all synchronized, so seemingly from the same single site.

A different set of possible leapfrogs could be computed in the evenings at 01-05 when the 6 MHz channels are 6000, 6050, 6120, 6140, the first two in English. Note that 6060 is no longer on the RHC schedule, before 0500 when it starts in English, the frequency now clear for Argentina and/or Brasil, Sichuan; and Spain 6055 will no longer get a double-whammy Cubasqueeze from both sides, from 6050 and 6060.

15120, nominally scheduled at 12-15 now, was already off at 1443 check Feb 7. This led me to realize that I had omitted it from my previous rework of the full RHC Spanish schedule, so REPLACE that with:

12-13 6000 6095 6140 6150 11690 11760 12040 15120 15230 15360
13-15 6140 11690 11730 11760 12040 13680 13780 15120 15230 15360
15-16 6140 11690 11730 11760 12040 13680 13780 15230 15360

22-24 5040 6140 9820 11770 12010 12040
00-02 6120 6140 9770 11760 12010 12040 15230
02-05 5040 6120 6140 9770 11760 12010 12040 15230
05-06 5040 6120 12010 12040 15230

Plus `Mesa Redonda` at 23-01 on 6000, 9640. Usually starts at 2330, soundtrack of TV show well-suited to radiophony. 2230 during DST.

13880, Feb 7 at 1447, Arnie is finally getting jammed, not by us, but by the incompetence of RadioCuba! During his science talk on this leapfrog of 13680 over 13780, there is also the clicking spur centered circa 13883 from the jammers on 13820 against Martí. 13883 and 13880 were fading independently. Commies vs Commies!

Similar clicking around 11982 at 1450, spur from the 11930 jammers, bothering a weak signal on 11985, where per HFCC, IBB via Sri Lanka and BBC via Cyprus are already colliding, both aimed at CIRAF 41 = South Asia! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** INDONESIA. 9526-, VOI English at 13-14 I missed Feb 7, but still on air at 1503 with extremely unreliable bonus broadcast, during news by M, 1513 commentary by W about ``change in Myanmar``. Occasional IADs became much more obvious after 1525 when `Indonesian Wonder` talk had musical bed. 1530 `Let`s Learn Bahasa Indonesia` reciting terms about cooking, cut off abruptly at 1533*. That`s a lot more than we usually get after 1500. Fair reception (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MEXICO. 6185, Feb 7 at 1214, XEPPM is still on past nominal 1200*, talking about radios comunitarias, 1215 `Cosas de Indios` apparent program title, but maybe just a promo, then federal government PSA with phone number to report violence against women; 1216 live ID by YL for XEEP 1060 only, starting shift with current date and time, it`s a school holiday, name of person on duty at transmitter site Sergio Rojas(?). Still going at 1224 with yipping Mexisong, off circa 1230 when no longer heard.

So the axual schedule appears to be 2300v-1230v. 6185 had lite CCI, but not // RHC which could have produced a leapfrog here from 6095 over 6140; see CUBA. There was JBA mostly musical CCI, presumably 15 kW China Huayi, Chengdu. Before 1200, 6185 blocked as usual by NHK 1130 in Russian, 300 kW, 35 degrees from Yamata, for DVR but also USward (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 

** MICRONESIA. In previous report, this item had the wrong date, Feb 7 instead of Feb 5; Make it:

4755.4, V6MP, The Cross, Feb 5 at 0747 tune-in to S9+15 signal with music, 0753 announcement but too weak to copy; 0755 gospel rock; 0759 seems like ID in English, but still too weak, and fading.

This is a nice clear frequency with no QRM at all, not even CODAR, except for an occasional rapid swoosh by an ionosonde, to which all frequencies are subject. I found it initially by zero-beating on WTWW 5755, then down 1 MHz, and hearing the het of some 400 Hz --- some have refined it to 4755.44, which means the het should have been A = 440 Hz, but no musical instrument handy.

I have no doubt I was hearing this station, reactivated after 3.3 years, but hope for a better catch with more definite details. I am awake again at 1205, and the carrier is still there, also at 1228, but that`s all.

NEW info: 4755.4, Feb 7 at 0708 a carrier is JBA, but no trace of a carrier at next check around 1135. This correlates with observation by S. Hasegawa, Japan, dxldyg that it went off today at 0852. Ron Howard was not hearing it either at several chex starting at 1318.

However, As/Pac conditions were subnormal, no significant signals on 120, 105, 90, 75 or 60 metres heard here, specifically seeking 3210, 3945 around 1135 Feb 7. BTW, ``As/Pac`` is pronounced A`s-pus like the first syllable of each full word, not azz-pack. I say so (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** NIGERIA. 15120, VON, Feb 7 at 1550 fair signal with deep fades, also marred by somewhat distorted modulation on heavily-accented speaker, and carrier slightly unstable. At least Cuba, q.v. is avoiding the frequency from even before 1500 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** OKLAHOMA. Still wondering what programming KXTD 1530 Wagoner-Tulsa has, La Que Buena`s abandoned station now that they have purchased KRVT 1270 --- on caradio I do manage to pull it somewhat thru the KOKC 1520 splash, Feb 6 at 1950 UT --- and by golly, sounds like the same music not only on 1270 but 1570 too --- THREE simulcasting stations for the time being; what a waste. Could not check for definite // then, but an hour later the skywave was already dominating 1530 (Glenn Hausser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SARAWAK [non]. 6205, R. Free Sarawak via TAJKISTAN (still missing from HFCC, but WRTH Update says Dushanbé), Feb 7 at 1217, F-G but fluttery with usual phone discussion between studio announcer and interviewee in presumed Iban; at 1220 for almost a minute they were talking over each other. Fortunately no RHC spur strong enough to QRM; see CUBA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U K [non]. 9410, the doomed `Cuban` service of BBC, still going via WHRI, Monday Feb 7 at 1210 in Spanish, report on Chicago mayor`s race which I am sure the dentroCubans are dying to hear about; weak and fluttery now with some musical CCI, per Aoki CNR5 100 kW Beijing vs Fu Hsing, 25 kW from Kuanyin, Taiwan.

Equally doomed final semisesquihour from BBC is English filler, since 15 minutes weekdays is all they can manage in Spanish these days. By 1250 signal is now good atop any QRM, our only chance to hear a BBC English broadcast from and to somewhere in this Hemisphere (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 1600, Feb 6 at 2159, usual Vietnamese talk, interrupted at 2200 UT sharp for legal ID in English, ``AM 1600, KRVA, Cockrell Hill-Dallas`` and right back to Viet; I had impression that it was not paused, so a few words with strange accents were missed during the ID; who cares?

I have been looking for a website to find whether KRVA with `Asian` format as in NRC AM Log 2010-2011 really has any languages but Vietnamese, the only one I have heard, but no site found; I am usually hearing it in the hour+ before sunset or after sunrise. Wikipedia site about it is obviously outdated, saying KRVA is currently ``La Buena 1600`` in Spanish! However:

``There was also a period, including summer and autumn of 2005, during which 1600 am broadcast an Asian format (including Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu and English languages), with music, talk, games and advertising relating to the Asian community in the D/FW area.``

Wiki-link to station website finds it blank/blanco/white/trang/trong:
http://www.krvaam.com/
Radio-locator.com is also out of date, showing ``Radio Romántica``,
http://www.radio-locator.com/info/KRVA-AM
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 9955, Jeff White tells me there was a power failure at the WRMI transmitter site, accounting for no signal and no streaming either during the scheduled 1630 and 1830 Sunday Feb 6 airings of WORLD OF RADIO 1550. No jamming either when checked after 1630.

Don`t know when restored, but certainly back on by 0705 UT Feb 7, when weird rock music turned out to be intro to program on one of R. Prague`s daily relays in English, over lite pulse jamming.

9955, next check at 1155, wall of noise jamming, while 9965 not yet jammed; see CUBA [and non]. And Monday at 1539 during Studio DX in Italian, too much pulse jamming to follow it. Next WOR chances: Mon 2230, Tue 1630, Wed 0200, 1630 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 9405, JBA carrier Feb 7 at 0702, much weaker than 9370 WTJC, in turn weaker than several WYFR 9 MHz band frequencies starting with 9355. I suppose any carrier at all on 9405 at this time has to be WINB as nothing else is known to be scheduled (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** VATICAN [non]. 9865, R. Vaticano, Sackville relay is coming in better Feb 7 at 1140 in Spanish, except it`s noised by DRM from RNZI 9865-9870-9875 until its 1200* sharp. Helps some to side-tune down from 9865. At 1200 RV in the clear starting another Spanish show, `Misiones y Misioneros`, and still in Spanish past 1203.

So once again I reconfirm by *axual monitoring* that THERE IS NO ENGLISH BROADCAST at 1200, despite RV`s own published schedules, and consequently WRTH Update info. Apparently there is a huge disconnect between the studio and Sackville about what is supposed to be done.

As for the QRDRM, there seem to be plenty of open frequencies between this and A-10`s ex-9830 with the RTTY. Fortunately, Vividh Bharati does not start on 9870 until 1245, then heard well as usual (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 11660, Feb 7 at 1242 continuous noise, 1245 starts cutting on and off irregularly. Only thing scheduled here per Aoki is VOR English via Tajikistan, so maybe that`s malfunxioning, or unrelated, with nothing needing jamming; no programming audible (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###