** ALASKA. KNLS usually puts up its next-season schedule well in advance, but as of March 3, A-11 still not found on its English website nor Chinese, but it is on the Russian, so the English hours are to be: 0800 on 11870, 1000 on 11870, 1200 on 9920, 9655, 1400 on 9655. These plans often don`t come true due to continuing transmitter problems and schedule rejiggering (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See ROMANIA
** ANTARCTICA. 15476, another no-show day for LRA36, March 3 checked at 1344 (when Turkey was JBA on 15480), 1420, 1430, 1533 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake March 3:
6030, at 1320 in usual mix with other jamming and Taiwan.
10300, poor at 1339. No 8400 audible now or later, nor any other FD in full bandscan to 1430 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA [and non]. Is the DentroCuban Jamming Command super-malicious, or just incompetent? We continue to hear jamming on frequencies when there is nothing hostile ``needing`` jamming. Besides heaps of noise on WRMI 9955 when it is not carrying exile shows or even anything in Spanish ---
9885, March 3 at 0450, VOA English news to Africa, with heavy pulse jamming, roughly equal level so VOA is more or less readable if you are motivated to put up with this annoyance. Site is listed as São Tomé, tho I could have mistaken it for Greenville which may be the back-up. HFCC shows 0300-0430 Botswana, 0430-0600 ST, 0600-0700 South Africa (and Iran also 9885, eastward in Dari at 0300-0630, unnoted here).
This jamming is heavy pulsing, not wall-of-noise, which could be blamed on one rogue jammer site in Cuba which just keeps going inexorably or ignores the latest requirements. Rate is 3 pulses per second. 9885 is also the VOA (not Martí) Spanish frequency from Greenville in mornings and evenings only. (Checked again at 1330 when `Buenos Días, América` is starting, 9885 is free of jamming. Look for VOA Spanish, AM & PM to shift one UT hour earlier March 13 for the convenience of Wáshington, certainly not listeners abroad, except Cuba which follows US DST dates like a lapdog.)
Back to 0450: same 180/minute rate pulse jamming on 9725, but not synchronized with 9885. Nothing to be jammed here now, used only at other times by R. Martí. I also heard same pulsing weakly and briefly circa 9640, a spur, mixing product or receiver overload? Hmmm, 9640 is an RHC frequency for `Mesa Redonda` circa 2330.
At 0500, pulsing on WRMI 9955 was at slightly faster rate, stopped at 0501 while non-pulsing jamming continued. At 0506, 7365 deliberately jammed at 3 per second too, a R. Martí frequency earlier. At 0630, WRMI 9955 had pulse jamming instead of WON, vs. R. Praga in Spanish, and the others were off, except 7365 at 0651 was still pulsing against nothing. Also see USA: WRMI.
Meanwhile, what are the RadioCuba broadcasting transmitters doing? At 0453-0456*, S9+22 open carrier on 9770, presumably end of RHC. At 0510, RHC English: 6010 open carrier with hum; 6050 OK except for ACI from Spain 6055; 6060 being weaker has heavier ACI from 6055. Whose bright idea was it to put two RHC transmitters 5 kHz from the big signal from Spain? I bet I know. 6150 undermodulated as usual and also squealing. Spanish on 6120 lo-fi and muffled. By 0538, they have managed to apply English modulation to 6010, and 6150 is no longer squealing for the moment (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** EAST TURKISTAN. 13855, March 3 at 1340, fair with flutter, in Chinese with birds tweeting and traditional instruments. It`s just one of countless CRI broadcasts via Kashgar to Europe, 13-14, 308 degrees (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GERMANY [non]. 21780, March 3 at 1351, VG S9+15 signal in German, SSOB by far compared to 21505, 21540, 21550-also DW, 21570, 21610, 21695. Item about US trade deficit, then 1357 Larry King clip to voice-over translation, extolling a new art museum in México funded by multi-giganaire Carlos Slim; 1359 DW ID and jingles, offering e-mail newsletter kostenlos, to 1359:30*.
Had not noticed this big signal before, probably because in morning bandscanning upward I don`t usually get to top of 13m before 1400. If it`s DW, it can`t be from Germany! Expected it to be a tropical relay, but listed as 500 kW, 85 degrees from Rampisham UK at 12-14! Wonder if they were on a NAm antenna by mistake; or a propagational fluke? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GUAM [and non]. 5765-USB, March 3 at 1323, AFN is on today with talk. Note that WTWW plans to add this frequency by A-11, until 1300. That will blow away AFN at night, even in the Pacific (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) KSDA: see USA [non]
** INDONESIA. 9526-, VOI, quick chex during 1300 English hour March 3 had VG signal, but heavy accent and those dratted IADs they will do nothing to fix. I see others reporting this station without even mentioning the IADs; how can they not notice them? Retune just before 1500 to hear if we would get a bonus bit of broken English after Indonesian, but not to be today, 1459:10*, while 9680 RRI continued (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KURDISTAN [non]. 11530, March 3 from 1435 tune-in, wonderful Kurdish music, occasional very brief announcements, from V. of Mesopotamia, via UKRAINE, and always fluttery until 1500* (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** LIBYA. 21695, March 3 at 1401, drumming, VOAftGJ ID, sign-on, fair, stuff about masses. Mike Barraclough observes that if there is anything about the current situation, it`s usually at the beginning of the broadcast. Closest they came today was hilife song with oft-repeated refrain, ``What Shall We Do?`` mostly in English but at 1410 morphing into another language before abrupt stop. 1412 ID again, ``overview of the African Union, a strategic achievement since 9-9-99``. Much better here than // 17725 just a carrier, which remained the case at further chex, altho by 1433 ID, 21695 had weakened (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NEW ZEALAND [and non]. Re 9765-DRM, heard March 2: RNZI confirms it was from them by mistake. Gone again when checked March 3 at 1325, just REE Spanish via Costa Rica on AM, item about overweight-rate among Spaniards (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ROMANIA. 9655, March 3 at 1500, IS and opening in Arabic with Romanian accent; no sign of co-channel KNLS Alaska [q.v.] in English which in B-10 has been on 9655 at 1500 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN [and non]. 9675, REE via COSTA RICA, 0455 March 3 VG with nice Andean music, and not // 9620 direct which has already switched to sign-off routine, but music soon ends anyway on 9675 for announcements. Big signal muscling aside WYFR 9680. However, by 0503, WYFR 9680 with music is making heavy interference on 9675. I figured it had made an antenna change, but no, listed as 315 degrees OKward both before and after 0500, while 9675 is 340 degrees, also USward. It would be nice if these two could agree to be at least 10 kHz apart. 9680 was so strong it mixed with local KGWA-960 to appear on 10640, at least within the FRG-7. See also NEW ZEALAND.
15170, Thursday March 3 at 1342, W&W in Basque, so another day this REE weekday 1330+ service is not a no-show. Via COSTA RICA here.
15585, March 3 at 1535, poor signal in French had me head-scratching, until I found nothing but Spain is on 15585 from 09 to 17, and this was amid the token two-sesquiminute French news capsule at 1534 weekdays, to be followed by English; 60 degrees from Noblejas across Europe but missing France directly (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TURKEY. Refurbishment of both VOT sites in last few years, Çakirlar and Emirler, improved power and modulation for a while but once again things have deteriorated, e.g.: 12035, scheduled for English to Europe 313 degrees, thus also USward, March 3 at 1336 has a very weak carrier and no modulation detectable, vs much stronger Cuba 12040 --- and 12035 is the more favorable frequency for us than // 11735 completely undetectable. Have not been able to listen to this broadcast for months.
Tentative A-11 English schedule looks a lot like A-10, everything one UT hour earlier, mostly on same old frequencies, including 9830 despite the RTTY!
1230 15450 west, 15520 east
1830 9785
2030 7205
2200 9830
0300 6165 and new to NAm 9515 --- an ancient Ankara frequency when I first started monitoring 50+ years ago, resulting in one of my earliest QSLs. It appears that the Çakirlar site is out of service, everything from Emirler (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGST)
** U K [and non]. 9460, March 3 at 0455 news in English, fair signal, not sure what and did not recognise this as a BBC frequency, but listed this hour only in unnecessarily fragmented scheduling, 100 kW, 335 degrees via SOUTH AFRICA to WAf, also USward. CRI is also in English eastward from Beijing for Japan.
11830, March 3 at 1506, surprised to hear BBC in the clear starting `Assignment` from Kabul, but WYFR cuts back on at *1507 with Chinese in progress, aimed right at us, 315 degrees; nevertheless, BBC still audible under, 500 kW, 95 degrees via Rampisham (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also GERMANY [non]
** U S A [and non]. 17740, March 3 at 1416, big open carrier, no doubt another tune-up by Greenville, 1418 brief tonetest, long before it`s really broadcasting VOA at 1700. See also CUBA [and non].
9760, March 3 at 1500 tune-in for VOA news on the hour, as this VG signal via Tinang, PHILIPPINES is supposed to resume, but nothing there until abrupt *1502 joining news in progress. This happens frequently, a demerit against our international broadcaster.
But the poor engineers are probably not to blame, having to retune an unreliable transmitter from another frequency, switch antennas, without enough time to do so. If it`s like other IBB sites, probably overworking staff with not enough personnel on duty to accomplish everything required in a minute or less, hoping they will resign in frustration and thus reduce costs without the bother of firing them. The alternative is to cut off the previous transmission earlier, which might be preferable. Or change the scheduling overall with an adequate built-in break. But who understands these operational requirements back in Washington? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. World of Radio on WBCQ shifted or shorted? So did anyone hear the entire WOR broadcast on WBCQ 7415 today [Wednesday March 2]? I couldn`t get the whole thing, but at 2230 check, #1554 was playing OK. However at recheck 2240 there was dead air until sign-off announcement at 2243. I think it may have started as early as 2211, and thus would have ended by 2240 if played to completion. `Amos `n` Andy`, now scheduled for 2200, as I recall, used to run shorter than 15 minutes. Anyhow, to be safe, we`ll change the schedules to show 2211 (Glenn Hauser, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1554 on WRMI: UT Thu March 3 at 0445 check, 9955 is wall of noise jamming. Tnx a lot, Arnie! See also CUBA [and non]. Next airing 1600 Thursday confirmed on webcast. 2200 probably jammed. Try 0430 UT Friday on WWRB 2390 and/or 5050; 2130 Friday on WWCR 7465 for this and one more week until shifting to 2030 on 15825 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 5755, WTWW, March 3 at 0637, carrier is warbling a bit vs BFO during very heavy PPP modulation. I`ve noticed this before, but not all the time. I suspect it depends on the overmodulation level.
George McClintock updated me Feb 25: two more transmitters are being installed at the same time, a bad idea. #2 may start by mid-to-end of March; #3 maybe in April. Depends on weather delays, installing rhombic antenna poles, etc. #3 antenna was not yet up due to rain.
Planned additional A-11 frequencies to 5755 and 9479 are: 5080, 5765, 9990, 12100, some of them aimed south (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 13570, WINB, March 3 at 1509, Rod Hembree thinking he`s clever with a `Star Trek` take-off promoting his Radio 2:11; muffled and more distorted than usual on VG strength but unsteady carrier. 9405 checked after 0500 was a JBA carrier (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [and non]. 5985, March 3 at 0516 huge open carrier from Okeechobee; recheck at 0539, now modulating in Chinese, which is YFR from 0500 in Mandarin to NAm, not RTI. See also SPAIN [and non].
15185, fluttery March 3 at 1421, Harold Camping, thank God for his easily recognizable voice, but beyond that we have no idea where this YFR relay comes from; must be new, unlisted anywhere. A companion to equally unknown 15485 heard March 1 at 1522. BTW, WYFR A-11 schedule is in, showing it expires 30 Oct 2011 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [non]. 15440, March 3 at 1425, ``Adventist World Radio`` mentioned several times but not in English, also mentions Punjabi, address in Hyderabad, Pakistan. More English words required in further contact info to 1428*. However, this is listed as Urdu, 1400-1430, 300 kW due east from Moosbrunn, AUSTRIA, so which language is it, really?
11955, March 3 at 1505, S Asian songs, sounding romantic, but probably alabadic, since this is AWR listed really in Punjabi via Wertachtal, GERMANY.
15495, March 3 at 1534, S Asian music, announcement, listed as KSDA Guam, 285 degrees in Marathi; could it be long path? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 13845, WWCR inbooming March 3 at 1530 contrary to usual marginal signal, but 15825 was JBA. Assuming both were transmitting at full power, a stark divide with Es-enhanced MUF somewhere in that 2-MHz gap. This often signals Es too from KJES 11715, even tho in opposite direxion, but no sign of it today, suspect off (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 720, WGN, UT Thursday March 3 at 0529, looking for `Extension 720`, but instead, stupid sports talk! Since E720 shifted an hour later to 04-06 UT weeknights it should be pre-empted less for ballgames, so I am apprehensive it has finally been canceled as too intellexual for commercial radio. Whew, checking website:
http://www.wgnradio.com/shows/ext720/
``(Wednesday, March 2) No program tonight -- preempted by Hockey. But we will be back tomorrow with a great panel of Middle-east experts and strategic scholars as we focus in on the popular revolts in Libya, Yemen, Bahrein, Jordan, etc.``
Anyway, WGN was in its usual 720 battle with Spanish and SAH from KSAH in San Antonio, making weblistening preferable if possible (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** VIETNAM. 12020, March 3 at 1338 talk in English about Russia, heavy ACI from 12015 RTTY. I sure thought it was VOR until I found it is not currently scheduled on this frequency at all, but VOV is, in English at 1330, per Aoki, 57 degrees so favorable for NAm (English also at 1000, 1130, 1230, 1500, 2330, some of them on 177 degrees instead) (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 17000, March 3 at 1347, 2-way SSB, seems in Spanish, demodulated by the MHz birdie on the FRG-7 without switching on BFO. Could be a legit maritime contact rather than poacher/narco (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
** ANTARCTICA. 15476, another no-show day for LRA36, March 3 checked at 1344 (when Turkey was JBA on 15480), 1420, 1430, 1533 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake March 3:
6030, at 1320 in usual mix with other jamming and Taiwan.
10300, poor at 1339. No 8400 audible now or later, nor any other FD in full bandscan to 1430 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA [and non]. Is the DentroCuban Jamming Command super-malicious, or just incompetent? We continue to hear jamming on frequencies when there is nothing hostile ``needing`` jamming. Besides heaps of noise on WRMI 9955 when it is not carrying exile shows or even anything in Spanish ---
9885, March 3 at 0450, VOA English news to Africa, with heavy pulse jamming, roughly equal level so VOA is more or less readable if you are motivated to put up with this annoyance. Site is listed as São Tomé, tho I could have mistaken it for Greenville which may be the back-up. HFCC shows 0300-0430 Botswana, 0430-0600 ST, 0600-0700 South Africa (and Iran also 9885, eastward in Dari at 0300-0630, unnoted here).
This jamming is heavy pulsing, not wall-of-noise, which could be blamed on one rogue jammer site in Cuba which just keeps going inexorably or ignores the latest requirements. Rate is 3 pulses per second. 9885 is also the VOA (not Martí) Spanish frequency from Greenville in mornings and evenings only. (Checked again at 1330 when `Buenos Días, América` is starting, 9885 is free of jamming. Look for VOA Spanish, AM & PM to shift one UT hour earlier March 13 for the convenience of Wáshington, certainly not listeners abroad, except Cuba which follows US DST dates like a lapdog.)
Back to 0450: same 180/minute rate pulse jamming on 9725, but not synchronized with 9885. Nothing to be jammed here now, used only at other times by R. Martí. I also heard same pulsing weakly and briefly circa 9640, a spur, mixing product or receiver overload? Hmmm, 9640 is an RHC frequency for `Mesa Redonda` circa 2330.
At 0500, pulsing on WRMI 9955 was at slightly faster rate, stopped at 0501 while non-pulsing jamming continued. At 0506, 7365 deliberately jammed at 3 per second too, a R. Martí frequency earlier. At 0630, WRMI 9955 had pulse jamming instead of WON, vs. R. Praga in Spanish, and the others were off, except 7365 at 0651 was still pulsing against nothing. Also see USA: WRMI.
Meanwhile, what are the RadioCuba broadcasting transmitters doing? At 0453-0456*, S9+22 open carrier on 9770, presumably end of RHC. At 0510, RHC English: 6010 open carrier with hum; 6050 OK except for ACI from Spain 6055; 6060 being weaker has heavier ACI from 6055. Whose bright idea was it to put two RHC transmitters 5 kHz from the big signal from Spain? I bet I know. 6150 undermodulated as usual and also squealing. Spanish on 6120 lo-fi and muffled. By 0538, they have managed to apply English modulation to 6010, and 6150 is no longer squealing for the moment (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** EAST TURKISTAN. 13855, March 3 at 1340, fair with flutter, in Chinese with birds tweeting and traditional instruments. It`s just one of countless CRI broadcasts via Kashgar to Europe, 13-14, 308 degrees (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GERMANY [non]. 21780, March 3 at 1351, VG S9+15 signal in German, SSOB by far compared to 21505, 21540, 21550-also DW, 21570, 21610, 21695. Item about US trade deficit, then 1357 Larry King clip to voice-over translation, extolling a new art museum in México funded by multi-giganaire Carlos Slim; 1359 DW ID and jingles, offering e-mail newsletter kostenlos, to 1359:30*.
Had not noticed this big signal before, probably because in morning bandscanning upward I don`t usually get to top of 13m before 1400. If it`s DW, it can`t be from Germany! Expected it to be a tropical relay, but listed as 500 kW, 85 degrees from Rampisham UK at 12-14! Wonder if they were on a NAm antenna by mistake; or a propagational fluke? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GUAM [and non]. 5765-USB, March 3 at 1323, AFN is on today with talk. Note that WTWW plans to add this frequency by A-11, until 1300. That will blow away AFN at night, even in the Pacific (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) KSDA: see USA [non]
** INDONESIA. 9526-, VOI, quick chex during 1300 English hour March 3 had VG signal, but heavy accent and those dratted IADs they will do nothing to fix. I see others reporting this station without even mentioning the IADs; how can they not notice them? Retune just before 1500 to hear if we would get a bonus bit of broken English after Indonesian, but not to be today, 1459:10*, while 9680 RRI continued (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KURDISTAN [non]. 11530, March 3 from 1435 tune-in, wonderful Kurdish music, occasional very brief announcements, from V. of Mesopotamia, via UKRAINE, and always fluttery until 1500* (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** LIBYA. 21695, March 3 at 1401, drumming, VOAftGJ ID, sign-on, fair, stuff about masses. Mike Barraclough observes that if there is anything about the current situation, it`s usually at the beginning of the broadcast. Closest they came today was hilife song with oft-repeated refrain, ``What Shall We Do?`` mostly in English but at 1410 morphing into another language before abrupt stop. 1412 ID again, ``overview of the African Union, a strategic achievement since 9-9-99``. Much better here than // 17725 just a carrier, which remained the case at further chex, altho by 1433 ID, 21695 had weakened (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NEW ZEALAND [and non]. Re 9765-DRM, heard March 2: RNZI confirms it was from them by mistake. Gone again when checked March 3 at 1325, just REE Spanish via Costa Rica on AM, item about overweight-rate among Spaniards (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ROMANIA. 9655, March 3 at 1500, IS and opening in Arabic with Romanian accent; no sign of co-channel KNLS Alaska [q.v.] in English which in B-10 has been on 9655 at 1500 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN [and non]. 9675, REE via COSTA RICA, 0455 March 3 VG with nice Andean music, and not // 9620 direct which has already switched to sign-off routine, but music soon ends anyway on 9675 for announcements. Big signal muscling aside WYFR 9680. However, by 0503, WYFR 9680 with music is making heavy interference on 9675. I figured it had made an antenna change, but no, listed as 315 degrees OKward both before and after 0500, while 9675 is 340 degrees, also USward. It would be nice if these two could agree to be at least 10 kHz apart. 9680 was so strong it mixed with local KGWA-960 to appear on 10640, at least within the FRG-7. See also NEW ZEALAND.
15170, Thursday March 3 at 1342, W&W in Basque, so another day this REE weekday 1330+ service is not a no-show. Via COSTA RICA here.
15585, March 3 at 1535, poor signal in French had me head-scratching, until I found nothing but Spain is on 15585 from 09 to 17, and this was amid the token two-sesquiminute French news capsule at 1534 weekdays, to be followed by English; 60 degrees from Noblejas across Europe but missing France directly (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TURKEY. Refurbishment of both VOT sites in last few years, Çakirlar and Emirler, improved power and modulation for a while but once again things have deteriorated, e.g.: 12035, scheduled for English to Europe 313 degrees, thus also USward, March 3 at 1336 has a very weak carrier and no modulation detectable, vs much stronger Cuba 12040 --- and 12035 is the more favorable frequency for us than // 11735 completely undetectable. Have not been able to listen to this broadcast for months.
Tentative A-11 English schedule looks a lot like A-10, everything one UT hour earlier, mostly on same old frequencies, including 9830 despite the RTTY!
1230 15450 west, 15520 east
1830 9785
2030 7205
2200 9830
0300 6165 and new to NAm 9515 --- an ancient Ankara frequency when I first started monitoring 50+ years ago, resulting in one of my earliest QSLs. It appears that the Çakirlar site is out of service, everything from Emirler (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGST)
** U K [and non]. 9460, March 3 at 0455 news in English, fair signal, not sure what and did not recognise this as a BBC frequency, but listed this hour only in unnecessarily fragmented scheduling, 100 kW, 335 degrees via SOUTH AFRICA to WAf, also USward. CRI is also in English eastward from Beijing for Japan.
11830, March 3 at 1506, surprised to hear BBC in the clear starting `Assignment` from Kabul, but WYFR cuts back on at *1507 with Chinese in progress, aimed right at us, 315 degrees; nevertheless, BBC still audible under, 500 kW, 95 degrees via Rampisham (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also GERMANY [non]
** U S A [and non]. 17740, March 3 at 1416, big open carrier, no doubt another tune-up by Greenville, 1418 brief tonetest, long before it`s really broadcasting VOA at 1700. See also CUBA [and non].
9760, March 3 at 1500 tune-in for VOA news on the hour, as this VG signal via Tinang, PHILIPPINES is supposed to resume, but nothing there until abrupt *1502 joining news in progress. This happens frequently, a demerit against our international broadcaster.
But the poor engineers are probably not to blame, having to retune an unreliable transmitter from another frequency, switch antennas, without enough time to do so. If it`s like other IBB sites, probably overworking staff with not enough personnel on duty to accomplish everything required in a minute or less, hoping they will resign in frustration and thus reduce costs without the bother of firing them. The alternative is to cut off the previous transmission earlier, which might be preferable. Or change the scheduling overall with an adequate built-in break. But who understands these operational requirements back in Washington? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. World of Radio on WBCQ shifted or shorted? So did anyone hear the entire WOR broadcast on WBCQ 7415 today [Wednesday March 2]? I couldn`t get the whole thing, but at 2230 check, #1554 was playing OK. However at recheck 2240 there was dead air until sign-off announcement at 2243. I think it may have started as early as 2211, and thus would have ended by 2240 if played to completion. `Amos `n` Andy`, now scheduled for 2200, as I recall, used to run shorter than 15 minutes. Anyhow, to be safe, we`ll change the schedules to show 2211 (Glenn Hauser, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1554 on WRMI: UT Thu March 3 at 0445 check, 9955 is wall of noise jamming. Tnx a lot, Arnie! See also CUBA [and non]. Next airing 1600 Thursday confirmed on webcast. 2200 probably jammed. Try 0430 UT Friday on WWRB 2390 and/or 5050; 2130 Friday on WWCR 7465 for this and one more week until shifting to 2030 on 15825 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 5755, WTWW, March 3 at 0637, carrier is warbling a bit vs BFO during very heavy PPP modulation. I`ve noticed this before, but not all the time. I suspect it depends on the overmodulation level.
George McClintock updated me Feb 25: two more transmitters are being installed at the same time, a bad idea. #2 may start by mid-to-end of March; #3 maybe in April. Depends on weather delays, installing rhombic antenna poles, etc. #3 antenna was not yet up due to rain.
Planned additional A-11 frequencies to 5755 and 9479 are: 5080, 5765, 9990, 12100, some of them aimed south (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 13570, WINB, March 3 at 1509, Rod Hembree thinking he`s clever with a `Star Trek` take-off promoting his Radio 2:11; muffled and more distorted than usual on VG strength but unsteady carrier. 9405 checked after 0500 was a JBA carrier (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [and non]. 5985, March 3 at 0516 huge open carrier from Okeechobee; recheck at 0539, now modulating in Chinese, which is YFR from 0500 in Mandarin to NAm, not RTI. See also SPAIN [and non].
15185, fluttery March 3 at 1421, Harold Camping, thank God for his easily recognizable voice, but beyond that we have no idea where this YFR relay comes from; must be new, unlisted anywhere. A companion to equally unknown 15485 heard March 1 at 1522. BTW, WYFR A-11 schedule is in, showing it expires 30 Oct 2011 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [non]. 15440, March 3 at 1425, ``Adventist World Radio`` mentioned several times but not in English, also mentions Punjabi, address in Hyderabad, Pakistan. More English words required in further contact info to 1428*. However, this is listed as Urdu, 1400-1430, 300 kW due east from Moosbrunn, AUSTRIA, so which language is it, really?
11955, March 3 at 1505, S Asian songs, sounding romantic, but probably alabadic, since this is AWR listed really in Punjabi via Wertachtal, GERMANY.
15495, March 3 at 1534, S Asian music, announcement, listed as KSDA Guam, 285 degrees in Marathi; could it be long path? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 13845, WWCR inbooming March 3 at 1530 contrary to usual marginal signal, but 15825 was JBA. Assuming both were transmitting at full power, a stark divide with Es-enhanced MUF somewhere in that 2-MHz gap. This often signals Es too from KJES 11715, even tho in opposite direxion, but no sign of it today, suspect off (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 720, WGN, UT Thursday March 3 at 0529, looking for `Extension 720`, but instead, stupid sports talk! Since E720 shifted an hour later to 04-06 UT weeknights it should be pre-empted less for ballgames, so I am apprehensive it has finally been canceled as too intellexual for commercial radio. Whew, checking website:
http://www.wgnradio.com/shows/ext720/
``(Wednesday, March 2) No program tonight -- preempted by Hockey. But we will be back tomorrow with a great panel of Middle-east experts and strategic scholars as we focus in on the popular revolts in Libya, Yemen, Bahrein, Jordan, etc.``
Anyway, WGN was in its usual 720 battle with Spanish and SAH from KSAH in San Antonio, making weblistening preferable if possible (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** VIETNAM. 12020, March 3 at 1338 talk in English about Russia, heavy ACI from 12015 RTTY. I sure thought it was VOR until I found it is not currently scheduled on this frequency at all, but VOV is, in English at 1330, per Aoki, 57 degrees so favorable for NAm (English also at 1000, 1130, 1230, 1500, 2330, some of them on 177 degrees instead) (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 17000, March 3 at 1347, 2-way SSB, seems in Spanish, demodulated by the MHz birdie on the FRG-7 without switching on BFO. Could be a legit maritime contact rather than poacher/narco (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###