** ANGUILLA. 6090, after missing several nights, PMS is back March 12 at 0653, VG signal doing away with the hets uncovered in her absence. Day frequency 11775 had also come back midday March 11. PMS = Pastor Melissa Scott, widow of Dr. EuGene Scott who inherited his business. Some guess she must be his daughter; probably young enough to have been, but afraid not: a porn star he reformed (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** BRAZIL. 6060-, March 12 at 0702, opening Voz da Libertação gospel-huxtering, with RHC already off the air (and even it had almost faded out from 6050 and 6060 before 0700). This is ZYE726, SRDA (Super Radio God is Love), 10 kW from Curitiba, Paraná, slightly on low side compared to Brother Scare on WLNO 1060, mixed with XEEP (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LITENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake March 12:
8400, JBA at 1349
10300, very poor with flutter at 1353
No others found up to 16 MHz by 1400 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** COLOMBIA. 5910, March 12 at 0643, lengthy ID mentioning music styles they play, including cumbias from Panamá, norteñas from México, ``Alcaraván Radio, música sólo por dios``, I think they said, not sure of last word but would be typical, as Latin Americans would not say ``por vos``. Fair signal, S9+12 while North Americans on 49m were almost outwiped by auroral conditions.
I continue to see some list-logs of 5910 as Marfil Estéreo, or LV de tu Conciencia. It`s all the same transmitter in Puerto Lleras, currently simulcasting their AM 1530 station, so that`s the proper ID (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA [and non]. 7520, 5-digit Spanish YL spy numbers, strong March 12 at 0225, making slight SAH and mixing at about equal level with WYFR in Portuguese! She also used to collide with WYFR on 6875 at 2100, IIRC. Does anybody notice or care, e.g. the YFR frequency manager?
WYFR currently on 7520 0100-0745 in several languages. First time noticed here, but not my favorite time to monitor; new frequency for numbers, or ongoing for years? Schedule could depend on day of week: UT Saturday.
7390, surprised to find pulse-jamming here, March 12 at 0655, instead of usual 7365, used by R. Martí earlier. Much weaker than wall of noise against Martí 7405, but unseems spurious, so could be a tipoff that now there is something, sometime, on 7390 needing blockage from the poor oppressed and information-starved DentroCubans by their unelected, dictatorial and repressive government (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ECUADOR. 3810-LSB, HD2IOA, March 12 at 0640, Spanish timesignals every ten seconds in the clear with no QRhaM at the moment. Announcement is ``Al oir el tono, será la una hora, 40 minutos, 40 segundos``, for example, and still quite accurate compared to WWV. Many nights is not audible and I continue to wonder if they are only sporadically on air (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GUYANA. 3290, March 12 at 0634 I manage to hear a bit of talk in English somewhat separable from the ute carrier on low side. Presumed GBC. Could have been BBC relay, sounded similar to what was on 5875, but either not // or too far out of synch to match. GBC is supposedly looking for a new frequency to get away from all the QRM. Wish they`d uphurry (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** JAPAN [and non]. Around 1410 UT March 12 I wanted to hear news in depth from ANY English-speaking SW station, but scanning all bands, I could not find a single one! NHK not making it on 9875 due to degraded propagation and not intended for us, anyway. No VOA, no BBC; RA 9590 has gone back to `Saturday Night Country` music. The only good signals in English are gospel huxters for whom journalism, i.e. dealing with objective reality, is anathema.
O well, there`s always NPR, so tune to KOSU 91.7 for `Weekend Edition` --- or maybe NOT always, if the Republicans manage to have their way (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** LIBYA. 17725, VOAf from the GJ, again March 12 at 1400 Swahili running overtime, 1403 opening English, 1405 usual totally wrong canned frequency announcement. Same old stuff; 1530 check had declined to just barely audible carrier, meanwhile 21695 still missing, altho 13m was barely propagating from anywhere but Furman (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. 6185, XEPPM, March 12 at 0645 dead air, I feared another breakdown, but it was just a pause, as well-modulated music soon started, cha-cha with a name shouted periodically, ``Julia``? 0647 YL DJ outros as Pérez Prado, but Julia unfound in his discography, http://www.laventure.net/tourist/prezdisc_3_45s.htm
DJ in Spanish wishes us an excellent Saturday March 12, and more great music by same artist, making me want to upstay to enjoy it. Henceforth until Mexico DF goes on DST too April 3, I would already have to stay up an hour later by local time just to hear start of their eclectic music circa 0632 UT (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MICRONESIA. 4755.4+, JBA carrier compared to remnant of WTWW 5755.0, March 12 at 0709 check, presumably PMA The Cross. I might get something more from it later, but not worth losing sleep over, unless unavoidable; and from now on I would have to stay up an hour `later` by DST even to get this (Glenn Hauser, oK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NEW ZEALAND. 31m was almost dead before 0700 UT March 12, even WYFR frequencies not making it, so at 0658 I stood by on 9765 to see if RNZI at least would upshow --- yes, bell bird, 0700 timesignal and first news I had heard of the radiation leaks in Japan. Also audible weaker, R. Australia on 9710, 9660, but not much else (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** PALAU. 9930, T8WH, March 12 at 1352 with WHR ID, send a SASE with 37 cents postage for a program schedule to Box 12, South Bend! That`s over five years out of date. The rate went up to 39 cents on January 8, 2006, per
http://www.akdart.com/postrate.html
and subsequently increased to 41, 42, and currently 44 cents. Finding any such stamps might be rather inconvenient in most of Palau`s coverage area, but nice of WHR to take on the burden of adding seven more cents to each such request. Make that a LOT more cents to any address outside the US. Domestic US rates do apply to and from Palau per http://pe.usps.com/text/imm/immctry.htm
despite it strange dual status, as T8WH is a.k.a. its former (?) US call KHBN, and Palau also issuing its own stamps since ``independence`` in 1994 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1555 monitoring: confirmed loud & clear on WWCR-1, 7465, Friday March 11 at 2130, and WWCR-2, 12160, Saturday March 12 at 1700. Remember, from next week due to stupid DST, 2130 moves to 2030 UT, and presumably back to 15825 for the rest of the year until November, altho WWCR does not post its new transmitter schedules even one day in advance; and 1700 shifts to 1600 UT, still on 12160. Final repeat at ``1:30 am`` CT Sunday on 3215 is in that grey zone when CST is officially in effect until 2 am = 0800 UT, so should be at 0730 UT one more time before shifting to 0630 next week.
On WRMI 9955: just barely audible at 1525 Saturday March 12, sounds like me; not jammed but very weak signal (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. Propagation conditions were quite degraded March 12 around 0641 from North America. Signals OK on 90m, but these were very poor from WWCR, WTWW: 4840, 5755, 5890, 5935. WWV reported:
# Geophysical Alert Message
#
Solar-terrestrial indices for 11 March follow.
Solar flux 123 and mid-latitude A-index 25.
The mid-latitude K-index at 0600 UTC on 12 March was 2 (14 nT).
Space weather for the past 24 hours has been minor.
Geomagnetic storms reaching the G1 level occurred.
Radio blackouts reaching the R1 level occurred.
Space weather for the next 24 hours is expected to be minor.
Radio blackouts reaching the R1 level are expected.``
At 0300 the K-index had been 4, and conditions after 0600 seemed more like that than 2 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. America`s two SSB SW stations were both in well, March 12 around 1700: WBCQ 15420, USB + carrier; and WJHR 15550-USB with no carrier, both gospel-huxtering (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 1540, figured I should have a good chance at the WKVQ DX test, 10 kW daytimer in Eatonton, Georgia (midway between Athens and Macon, ESE of Atlanta), with my FRG-7 longwire aimed E-W already, and there it was, March 12 at 0612 UT, announcing mailing address, but always underneath dominant 1540 talk station // KOKC 1520, and with multiple SAHs from numerous other signals. WKVQ played various Xmas music, such as ``Winter Wonderland`` heard first, 0615 ``Let it Snow`` on piano, 0618 ``Sleigh Ride``, 0622 ``Santa Claus is Comin` to Town``, 0629 ``Sleigh Ride`` again.
These alternated with code IDs, each twice, as WKVQ, and it sounded like the tones employed were not a pure single tone, at 0615, 0622, 0629, 0630; plus voice IDs but I could never copy a complete announcement due to QRM, at 0612, 0618, 0627, 0630. I tried the DX-398 but could not get any significant improvement trying to null the other station, which turned out to be KXEL on the Midnight Radio Network as IDed at 0626 when it came in stronger.
Tune-out after 0630, assuming the test part I was over. The 0600-0630 DX test was supposed to be for Europe before sunrise, in addition to originally scheduled 0700-0730 for North America, but hardly necessary to stay up for that (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. 6297.1, SASASAM is back, March 12 at 0710 with usual chanting, fair signal. Carlos Gonçalves in Portugal has been hearing it on MW 1550, but SW missing for several days (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
** BRAZIL. 6060-, March 12 at 0702, opening Voz da Libertação gospel-huxtering, with RHC already off the air (and even it had almost faded out from 6050 and 6060 before 0700). This is ZYE726, SRDA (Super Radio God is Love), 10 kW from Curitiba, Paraná, slightly on low side compared to Brother Scare on WLNO 1060, mixed with XEEP (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LITENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake March 12:
8400, JBA at 1349
10300, very poor with flutter at 1353
No others found up to 16 MHz by 1400 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** COLOMBIA. 5910, March 12 at 0643, lengthy ID mentioning music styles they play, including cumbias from Panamá, norteñas from México, ``Alcaraván Radio, música sólo por dios``, I think they said, not sure of last word but would be typical, as Latin Americans would not say ``por vos``. Fair signal, S9+12 while North Americans on 49m were almost outwiped by auroral conditions.
I continue to see some list-logs of 5910 as Marfil Estéreo, or LV de tu Conciencia. It`s all the same transmitter in Puerto Lleras, currently simulcasting their AM 1530 station, so that`s the proper ID (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA [and non]. 7520, 5-digit Spanish YL spy numbers, strong March 12 at 0225, making slight SAH and mixing at about equal level with WYFR in Portuguese! She also used to collide with WYFR on 6875 at 2100, IIRC. Does anybody notice or care, e.g. the YFR frequency manager?
WYFR currently on 7520 0100-0745 in several languages. First time noticed here, but not my favorite time to monitor; new frequency for numbers, or ongoing for years? Schedule could depend on day of week: UT Saturday.
7390, surprised to find pulse-jamming here, March 12 at 0655, instead of usual 7365, used by R. Martí earlier. Much weaker than wall of noise against Martí 7405, but unseems spurious, so could be a tipoff that now there is something, sometime, on 7390 needing blockage from the poor oppressed and information-starved DentroCubans by their unelected, dictatorial and repressive government (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ECUADOR. 3810-LSB, HD2IOA, March 12 at 0640, Spanish timesignals every ten seconds in the clear with no QRhaM at the moment. Announcement is ``Al oir el tono, será la una hora, 40 minutos, 40 segundos``, for example, and still quite accurate compared to WWV. Many nights is not audible and I continue to wonder if they are only sporadically on air (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GUYANA. 3290, March 12 at 0634 I manage to hear a bit of talk in English somewhat separable from the ute carrier on low side. Presumed GBC. Could have been BBC relay, sounded similar to what was on 5875, but either not // or too far out of synch to match. GBC is supposedly looking for a new frequency to get away from all the QRM. Wish they`d uphurry (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** JAPAN [and non]. Around 1410 UT March 12 I wanted to hear news in depth from ANY English-speaking SW station, but scanning all bands, I could not find a single one! NHK not making it on 9875 due to degraded propagation and not intended for us, anyway. No VOA, no BBC; RA 9590 has gone back to `Saturday Night Country` music. The only good signals in English are gospel huxters for whom journalism, i.e. dealing with objective reality, is anathema.
O well, there`s always NPR, so tune to KOSU 91.7 for `Weekend Edition` --- or maybe NOT always, if the Republicans manage to have their way (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** LIBYA. 17725, VOAf from the GJ, again March 12 at 1400 Swahili running overtime, 1403 opening English, 1405 usual totally wrong canned frequency announcement. Same old stuff; 1530 check had declined to just barely audible carrier, meanwhile 21695 still missing, altho 13m was barely propagating from anywhere but Furman (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. 6185, XEPPM, March 12 at 0645 dead air, I feared another breakdown, but it was just a pause, as well-modulated music soon started, cha-cha with a name shouted periodically, ``Julia``? 0647 YL DJ outros as Pérez Prado, but Julia unfound in his discography, http://www.laventure.net/tourist/prezdisc_3_45s.htm
DJ in Spanish wishes us an excellent Saturday March 12, and more great music by same artist, making me want to upstay to enjoy it. Henceforth until Mexico DF goes on DST too April 3, I would already have to stay up an hour later by local time just to hear start of their eclectic music circa 0632 UT (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MICRONESIA. 4755.4+, JBA carrier compared to remnant of WTWW 5755.0, March 12 at 0709 check, presumably PMA The Cross. I might get something more from it later, but not worth losing sleep over, unless unavoidable; and from now on I would have to stay up an hour `later` by DST even to get this (Glenn Hauser, oK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NEW ZEALAND. 31m was almost dead before 0700 UT March 12, even WYFR frequencies not making it, so at 0658 I stood by on 9765 to see if RNZI at least would upshow --- yes, bell bird, 0700 timesignal and first news I had heard of the radiation leaks in Japan. Also audible weaker, R. Australia on 9710, 9660, but not much else (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** PALAU. 9930, T8WH, March 12 at 1352 with WHR ID, send a SASE with 37 cents postage for a program schedule to Box 12, South Bend! That`s over five years out of date. The rate went up to 39 cents on January 8, 2006, per
http://www.akdart.com/postrate.html
and subsequently increased to 41, 42, and currently 44 cents. Finding any such stamps might be rather inconvenient in most of Palau`s coverage area, but nice of WHR to take on the burden of adding seven more cents to each such request. Make that a LOT more cents to any address outside the US. Domestic US rates do apply to and from Palau per http://pe.usps.com/text/imm/immctry.htm
despite it strange dual status, as T8WH is a.k.a. its former (?) US call KHBN, and Palau also issuing its own stamps since ``independence`` in 1994 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1555 monitoring: confirmed loud & clear on WWCR-1, 7465, Friday March 11 at 2130, and WWCR-2, 12160, Saturday March 12 at 1700. Remember, from next week due to stupid DST, 2130 moves to 2030 UT, and presumably back to 15825 for the rest of the year until November, altho WWCR does not post its new transmitter schedules even one day in advance; and 1700 shifts to 1600 UT, still on 12160. Final repeat at ``1:30 am`` CT Sunday on 3215 is in that grey zone when CST is officially in effect until 2 am = 0800 UT, so should be at 0730 UT one more time before shifting to 0630 next week.
On WRMI 9955: just barely audible at 1525 Saturday March 12, sounds like me; not jammed but very weak signal (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. Propagation conditions were quite degraded March 12 around 0641 from North America. Signals OK on 90m, but these were very poor from WWCR, WTWW: 4840, 5755, 5890, 5935. WWV reported:
# Geophysical Alert Message
#
Solar-terrestrial indices for 11 March follow.
Solar flux 123 and mid-latitude A-index 25.
The mid-latitude K-index at 0600 UTC on 12 March was 2 (14 nT).
Space weather for the past 24 hours has been minor.
Geomagnetic storms reaching the G1 level occurred.
Radio blackouts reaching the R1 level occurred.
Space weather for the next 24 hours is expected to be minor.
Radio blackouts reaching the R1 level are expected.``
At 0300 the K-index had been 4, and conditions after 0600 seemed more like that than 2 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. America`s two SSB SW stations were both in well, March 12 around 1700: WBCQ 15420, USB + carrier; and WJHR 15550-USB with no carrier, both gospel-huxtering (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 1540, figured I should have a good chance at the WKVQ DX test, 10 kW daytimer in Eatonton, Georgia (midway between Athens and Macon, ESE of Atlanta), with my FRG-7 longwire aimed E-W already, and there it was, March 12 at 0612 UT, announcing mailing address, but always underneath dominant 1540 talk station // KOKC 1520, and with multiple SAHs from numerous other signals. WKVQ played various Xmas music, such as ``Winter Wonderland`` heard first, 0615 ``Let it Snow`` on piano, 0618 ``Sleigh Ride``, 0622 ``Santa Claus is Comin` to Town``, 0629 ``Sleigh Ride`` again.
These alternated with code IDs, each twice, as WKVQ, and it sounded like the tones employed were not a pure single tone, at 0615, 0622, 0629, 0630; plus voice IDs but I could never copy a complete announcement due to QRM, at 0612, 0618, 0627, 0630. I tried the DX-398 but could not get any significant improvement trying to null the other station, which turned out to be KXEL on the Midnight Radio Network as IDed at 0626 when it came in stronger.
Tune-out after 0630, assuming the test part I was over. The 0600-0630 DX test was supposed to be for Europe before sunrise, in addition to originally scheduled 0700-0730 for North America, but hardly necessary to stay up for that (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. 6297.1, SASASAM is back, March 12 at 0710 with usual chanting, fair signal. Carlos Gonçalves in Portugal has been hearing it on MW 1550, but SW missing for several days (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
